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AN 


ADDRESS, 


B Y 

REV. CARLTON A. STAPLES, OF MILWAUKEE, WIS. ; 


A POEM, 


B Y 

HON. HENRY CHAPIN, OF WOECESTER, MASS., 


A N U j 


OTHER PROCEEDINGS, 


IX COMMEMOK ATION OF 


THE TWO HUNDREDTH ANNIVERSARY 


O V T H E 


INCORPORATION OF MENDON, 


MASSACHUSETTS. 


WORCESTER : 
F Ji 1 N T E D BY C H A S . H A M I L i' O N . 

P A L L A D I II M O F PM C K . ■* 

18G8. 





IMl AV ( ) H U N 1) R E 1 ) T H 



ANN 1 \ E R 8 A II Y . 



MENDON, MASS. 



AN 



ADDRESS, 



BY 



REV. CARLTON A. STAPLES, OF MILWAUKEE, WIS. ; 



A POEM, 



HON. HENRY CHAPIN, OF WORCESTER, MASS., 



OTHER PROCEEDINGS, 



IN COMMEMORATION OF 



THE TWO HUNDREDTH ANNIVERSARY 



OF THE 



INCORPORATION OF MENDON, 



MASSACHUSETTS, 




W O R (^ E S T E R : 
PRINTED BY CHAS. HAMILTON, 

PALLADIUM OFFICE. 

1868. 



p7V 



PRELIMINARY PROCEEDINGS. 



At a town-nieetinir of the citizens of Mendon, lield March 25, 1865, it 
was voted •' To choose a Committee of tliree persons to mal\e arrange- 
ments for celebrating the two Inindredtli anniversary of the incorpora- 
tion of the town." and John G. Metcalf, NathaN George and Silas 
Dudley were chosen said Committee. . 

At a town-meeting, held March 17, 1866, a majority of the Committee 
made a report, recommending the 15th day of May, 1867, as the day 
for the celebration ; and that a Committee of Arrangements be chosen 
wliich shall have the charge of all matters pertaining to the celebration. 

The Committee of Arrangements chosen by the town, after tilling va- 
cancies occasioned by resignations and adding new members, consisted 
of the following persons : Pntman W. Taft, Charles A. Davenport, 
Anstin D. Davenport, John G. Metcalf, John S. Gaskill, Henry A. 
Aldrich. Lysander Grow, Gilbert Gaskill, Albert W. Gaskill, Willard 
H. Swan, Samnel Gaskill, Laban Bates, Perry Wood, Anstin Wood, 
Silas Dudley, Jr., Gustavus B. Williams, Olney Cook, Scammell Aldrich, 
Alanson Taft. Edward H. Taft, John R. Hayw^ard and David Adams. 

March 30, 1866, the Committee met and organized by the choice of 
Pntman W. Taft as Chairman, and John G. Metcalf as Secretary. 

At the same meeting it was voted to invite Eev. Carlton A. Staples, of 
Milwaukee, Wis., to deliver an Address, and Hon. Henry Ciiapin, of 
Worcester, a Poem, on the day of the celebration. 

In discharging their duties, the Committee held frequent meetings, 
at which the various arrangements were made, anil sub-connnittees ap- 
jjointed for their execution. 

The following persons were chosen as officers of the day appointed 
for the celebration : 

Dr. JOHN G. METCALF, President. 

VICE PRESIDENTS. 

Eben'r W. Hatward, Uxbridge, Asa Pickering, Bellinp:ham. 

William Knoavlton, Upton, A. C. Mayhew, Milfonl, 

Paul Whitin, Northbikl'^c, Jas. K. Comstock, Bliukstoiie, 

John S. Gaskill, Laban Bates, 

P. W. Tait, H. A. Aldrich, 

Perry Wood, Lysander Grow, 
committee of reception. 
Henry A. Aldrich, P. W. Taft, 

Perry Wood, John S. Gaskill, 

Lysander Grow, A. W. Gaskill. 



PROCEEDINGS AND EXERCISES. 



Gen. WILLIAM F. DRAPER, Chief Marshal. 

ASSISTANT MARSHALS. 

Col. James H. JJarker, Capt. A. S. Tdttle, Capt. William Emery, 

Lucius Lowell, Chaules H. Spencer, Herbert A. Bennett, 

Nathan Wheelock, Hiram O. Gibson, 

and Henry Bates. 

H. A. ALDRICH, Toast Master. 

The day of the celebration. May 15th, in the early morning, opened 
with no very favorable prospect of fair weather — the whole sky being 
obscured with heavy and watery looking clouds. Very soon, however, 
the clouds broke away and the appearance of the sun gave assurance of 
the pleasant day which followed. 

At an early hour, delegations began to arrive from Bellingham, Ux- 
bridge, Upton, Milford, Northbridge and Blackstone. with numerous 
bands of music, and which, with those from outside the family circle, 
swelled the number of those present, until, by the estimation of compe- 
tent observers, from four to live thousand had arrived. 

At 10 o'ciock A. M., a lengthy procession was organized, under the 
direction of the Chief Marshal and his aids, and marched through some 
of tiie principal streets to the LTnilarian Church, •where the address was 
to be delivered. The following was the order of the procession : 

American Brass Band. 

Milford Encampment of Knights Templars. 

Chief Mai-.shal and Aids. 

Military. 

Firemen. 

Conimittee of Arrangements. 

Selectmen of Mendon. 

President of the Day, Vice Presidents, &c. 

Orator, Poet, and Invited Guests. 

(Incorporated 1719,) 
Bellingham Delegation, Escorted by Societies. 

(Incorporated 1724,) 
Uxbridgc Delegation, Escorted by Societies. 

(Incorporated 1735,) 
Upton Delegation, Escorted by Societies. 

(Incorporated 1772,) 
Northbridge Delegation, Escorted by Societies. 

(Incorporated 1780,) 
Milford Delegation, Escorted by Societies. 

(Incorporated 1845.) 
Blackstone Delegation, Escorted by Societies. 

Citizens of Mendon on Foot. 

Carriages. 



PROCEEDINGS AND EXERCISES. 



The programme of the services in the Church was as follows : 

1 . Welcome Home, by Dr. John G. Metcalf, President of the day. 

2. Voluntary, by the American Brass Band, Providence, R. I. 

3. Rending of tlie Scriptures, by the Rev. Augustine Caldwell. 

4. Anthem, by the Choir. 

5. Prayer, by the Rev. Adin Ballon. 

6. Hymn, "Come Thou Almighty King." 

7. Address, by the Rev. Carlton A. Staples, of Milwaukee, Wis. 

8. Original Hymn, by Rev. Adin Ballon. Tune — "Auld Lang Syne." 

O, Ancient of eternal days. 

Whom countless worlds adore. 
Whose goodness wakes all nature's praise, 

And tunes her choral lore ; — 
On this fair hill our fathers reared 

An altar to thy name, 
By children's children still revered, 

Who now thy blessing claim. 

When first those hardy pilgrim sires 

Made here their humble home. 
And kindled their domestic fires 

Beneath the vast blue dome, 
A howling wilderness o'erspread 

This now delightful land. 
And savage life was wildly led 

By many a warlike band. 

And once where now a numerous seed 

Uplift their peaceful hymn, 
The hideous Indian's wrathful greed 

Hurled desolation grim ; 
Drove hence our settlers to the coast. 

Laid waste their infant town. 
And o'er its ruins danced their boast, 

With scorn's triumphant frown. 

We stand on consecrated ground. 

With embered homes inwrought, 
Whose green and fruitful soil around 

With hallowed dust is fraught ; 
While sainted forms from sunken gx-aves. 

Whose spirits wing the skies, 
And winds that stir yon lakelet's waves, 

Inspire our sacrifice. 



PROCEEDINGS ^ND EXERCISES. 



Then rise with grand memorial voice, 

O, congregation bless'd, 
And bow your heads as ye rejoice 

In mercies thus confessed, 
To Him that sitteth on the tlu'one, 

And Christ the lamb divine, 
With rapture make your worship known. 

Around this ancient shrine. 



9. Music, by the Band. 
10. Benediction, by Rev. Richard Coleman. 

The choir, under the leadership of Mr. Warren Batcheller, Mr. O. B. 
Yonn»- presiding at the organ, performed their part in the programme 
much to the satisfaction of the crowded auditory. The band also elicit- 
ed much ap])lause by their tasteful and accurate performances. 

The church, having been recently thoroughly repaired, presented a 
pleasing prospect among the stately elms and evergreens with which it 
is sui'rounded. The interior was decorated with floAvei's and ever- 
greens. Tlie words, ''Welcome Home," in large letters, being attached 
to the arch in the rear of the pulpit, was an appropriate motto for the 
address of the President of the day. 

The stated services in the church being concluded, the procession 
was re-formed and marched to the tent, which was pitched on a beauti- 
ful lot opposite the cottage house of A. A. Taft. The tables were 
spread for twelve hundred persons, by Mr. William Tufis, of Boston, 
and that number were present. The following programme was intend- 
ed for the order of the exerci-ses in the tent, but, owing to some inifore- 
seen impediments, was not fully carried out: 

1. Music, by the Band. 

2. Blessing, by Rev. Adin Ballon. 

3. Dinner. 

4. Music, by the Band. 

5. Poem, by Hon. Henry Chapin, of Worcester. 

6. Toasts, Sentiments and Responses. 

7. Music, by the Band. 

8. Benediction. 

Nothing occurred to disturb the harmony of the occasion, and the fes- 
tivities of the celebration were terminated by a Promenade Concert and 
Ball at the Town House. 



PROCEEDINGS AND EXERCISES. 



Opeiiiunf Address, by Dr. John G. Metcalf, President of the day : 

Friknds and Fellow Citizens : — It has been made a jiart of my pleasant 
duty to say a few words, by way of introduction to tiie memorial services to 
which we have invited you on the present occasion. 

I sliould be lacking in courtesy to those who have kindly consented to speak 
for us to-day, as well as to yourselves, were I to detain you from the intellectual 
repast which they have provided, by any lengthened remarks of my own. 

We are assembled upon no ordinary occasion. But forty-nine towns, over 
which the Massachusetts colony exercised jurisdiction, have been able to celebrate 
their 20ath birth-day. 

Two hundred years ago ! and what changes have been wrought in that period 
of time ? Two centuries have moved the Ijne of the frontier from the Blackstoue 
to west of the Missouri. 

Two centuries back, and our forefathers stood picket upon these green hills of 
ours, ready to respond to the interrogatory, " Watchman, what of the night?" 
To-day, we are assembled, undisturbed by the war-whoop of the Indian, or the 
alarms of war. 

We have come together, around the old hearth-stone, to exchange our con- 
gratulations — to brighten the golden chain of friendship — to reproduce and fix 
the pleasant memories of the past, and to offer our devout acknowledgments to 
God that the same goodness, the same paternal love which watched over and 
protected the fathers, is still vouchsafed to the children. 

I close, my friends, by bidding you, in beiialf of the men and women of 
Mendon, a cordial and heart-felt welcome home, to the amenities and festivities pf 
tliis commemoration of our natal day. 



D 1) R E S S 



'^^M^' 



ADDRESS. 



BY THE REV. CARLTON A. STAPLES, OF MILWAUKEE, WIS. 



In the fall of 1663 or the summer of 1664, a small com- 
pany of settlers, numbering perhaps a dozen families, 
hewed their way through the wilderness to the spot where 
now stands the village of Mendon. Here they made the 
first clearing, erected the first rude dwellings, organized 
the first civil and religions institutions within the bounds of 
the town. They came from Braintree and Weymouth, 
bringing their few household goods piled into carts, or on 
the backs of horses, and driving their cattle before them. 
It was a bold push into the unbroken wilderness, of twenty 
or twenty-five miles, and the journey must have occupied 
two or three days. The year Ijefore, viz. in 1662, they 
had ol)tained from the General Court a grant of a new planta- 
tion in the Xipmuck country, eight miles square, and had 
bought the land from the Indian sachems pretending to own 
it, paying therefor the sum of twenty-four pounds sterling. 
On the 8th of September, 1662, says the deed. Great John 
set to his hand and seal, and delivered the deed to Moses 
Payne and Peter Brackett» — the men in whose names the 
deed was taken. Subsequently, Messrs. Payne and Brack- 
ett assigned to the selectmen of Mendon all their right and 
title in the new plantation. Afterwards, King Philip set 
up a claim to some portion of it for himself and the Narra- 
ijansetts, and ofiered to sell it to the Dedham folks. 

2 



10 ADDRESS. 



Whereupon the selectmeu petitioned the General Court 
that they of Dedham " be not allowed to buy of Philip 
what has been already granted to them and paid for." 

Let us glance at the boundaries of this new plantation. 
Just where Charles River, running almost due south from 
the factory at South Milford, bends at right angles to the 
east, there stood a white oak tree, — the stump of which 
remained until within the memory of some now living, — 
known as the Dedham Tree ; this is the first mentioned 
bound. The line ran a mile eastward on this river to a 
black oak on the North side, thence four miles wanting 
forty rods due north, thence eight and one half miles west, 
thence eight south, thence seven and one half east, and thence 
four miles wanting forty rods north to the Dedham Tree. 
The deed fixes the north and south lines in a curiously 
indefinite manner. The Plantation was to extend five miles 
north of the path leading to Nipmuck Great Pond, and 
three miles south, — an Indian path, probably, from some 
point on Charles River to Mendon Pond, — but where the 
path was tradition saith not. 

Broad as this new plantation was, however, our good 
fathers seem never to have been fully satisfied with their 
territorial limits. We find them complaining to the Gen- 
eral Court immediately that the town was "meanly pro- 
vided with meadow." In truth, like many of their descend- 
ants, they had an itching to own all the land that joined 
theirs ; and whenever they saw a particularly fine piece of 
meadow or upland Ijeyond their lines, they could not rest 
until by purchase or grant it belonged to ]SIendon. Evi- 
dently they had a genius for annexation. First, they 
ol)tained a grant of all the meadow lands lying within two 
or three miles of their boundaries ; then they purchased of 
the Indians a large tract on their northern border and ex- 
tending toward Marlborough ; and, finally, they obtained 
jurisdiction over two thousand acres on their eastern line, 
because it lay conveniently and temptingly near, and the 
people living there, came to Mendon to church. 



ADDRESS. 11 



What a splendid tract of country for a town this original 
grant embraced ! The Charles Eiver ploughs half its east- 
ern front. The Mill River cuts it completely through from 
north to south. The West River, the Blackstone, — then 
(failed the Nipmuck, — and Mumford's River, sweep through 
its Avestern border and unite to form what the settlers called 
the Great River. Long reaches of meadow, flooded by the 
autumn rains and the winter snows, whose l^rooks afford con- 
venient sites and abundant power for saw-mills and shops, 
natural ponds fed l)y springs that gush out among the rocks, 
grand old hills rough with granite boulders and ridged by 
ledges, — jVIisco on the north, Waterbug on the south. Wig- 
wam and Caleb's in the centre, and a score of others scarce- 
ly less elevated, — with broad ridges running from north to 
south that mark the course of the rivers, unite to form a 
wonderful variety of surface, and give a delightful charm to 
the scenery. 

What finer view than that frojn the top of Wigwam Hill, 
where the eye takes in at a single glance on the west, the 
villages of Whitinsville, North Uxbridge, Uxbridge Cen- 
tre and the Woolen Mills, and the long line of the Ux- 
bridge hills, the three rivers that wind through those broad 
intervales, the scores of neat farm houses that dot the coun- 
try all over, and the blue peaks of the Wachusett and the 
Monadnock in the distance. Or the view from Calel)'s Hill 
to the east and north, embracing the towns of Bellingham, 
Franklin, Medway, Medfield, and Milford, with the Blue 
Hill of Milton and the Dover hills in the background ? Or 
what more charming landscape than that seen from Neck 
Hill, — the dividing ridge between Milford and Mendon, — 
at some point where the eye takes in this long slope from 
the village down to ]Muddy Brook, and northward em]>rac- 
ing farm after farm, with broad fields of grass and grain, 
orchards and pastures, and the (piiet sleeping village be- 
yond ? At this season of the year, Avhen fields and woods 
have put on their fresh green robes, and the soft air and the 
busy fingers of the sunbeam have covered thousands of 



12 ADDRESS. 



apple trees with their rich bloom, no sweeter, lovlier scene 
can be found. 

A splendid tract of country it was indeed that the sachem 
Great John and others parted with for twenty-four pounds,, 
when he set to his hand and seal on the 8th day of Septem- 
ber, 1662. To-day scarcely less than twenty-five thousand 
people are living within its bounds, and I am safe in saying 
that it would be difficult to find outside of our large cities, 
an equal extent of territory richer in all the varied indus- 
tries of an intelligent and enterprising people. But how 
must it have appeared to those brave, hardy men who a 
little more than two hundred . years ago planted themselves 
here with their wives and children? It was a dense, un- 
broken forest, heavily timbered with oak, chestnut, cedar 
and pine. If they came in the autumn, as it is most proba- 
ble, they could l^arely erect a few log cabins and make a 
small clearing before winter set in. Their stock was kept 
on the hay they were able to cut in some of the open mead- 
ows on the rivers and around the ponds, and the grain they 
brought from Medfield and Marlborough, the nearest settle- 
ments. All their provisions, except what they killed in the 
woods or caught in the streams, came from the same places, 
over roads that were mere paths cut through the wilderness, 
and across bridges of logs laid over the rivers. If one was 
sick or dead, they must go to Medfield for the doctor and 
minister, the Rev. John Wilson, who was physician for 
both body and soul. 

What a winter of loneliness and suflering the first must 
have been ! Locked in here from the world, the snow lying 
deep through the woods, their cattle scantily fed and poorly 
sheltered, the wolves and savages prowling around, their 
miserable dwellings destitute of every comfort, their tables 
supplied Avith only the coarsest food, no papers, books, 
Sunday preaching or new feces, to enliven the dreary 
months. What wonder if there was much sickness of body 
and faintness of heart, longings for the cheerful firesides and 
home faces which they had left behind ? But all through 



ADDRESS. 13 



the long wiuter, the axes rung merrily in the forests, the 
stately chestnuts and oaks came thundering down ; from 
great cedars and pines clapboards and shingles were rifted, 
aud planks sawn by hand, to make their dwellings more 
comfortable. Aud when spring at last unbound the streams 
and brought back the birds, the cheerful sun looked down 
upon a little cluster of rude cabins, and many broad, rich 
acres, ready for gardens and tields. 

The first settlement was made along the line of what are 
now the Providence and Uxl)ridge roads. The former w^as 
called the ten rod road, and the latter the country road. The 
civil affairs of the new Plantation were managed, at first, by 
a committee appointed by the General Court, consisting of 
four persons — i\lessrs. Atherton, Clap, Lusher and Parkes, 
of Dorchester and Eoxbuiy. They decided that none but 
honest men and of good report were to be received as set- 
tlers. Second, that every man bringing to the town an estate 
of £100 was to receive one hundred and fifty acres of land — 
forty acres in a house lot, and the remainder in meadow, 
swamp and upland, and those of smaller or larger estates 
in the same proportion. All subsequent divisions of land, 
(of which there were eleven), were made on the same basis. 
They drew lots for choice in selecting sites, that it might 
be decided according to the will of Providence, and half a 
house lot each was set aside for the ministry and the school. 

The Committee order that an able and approved minister 
be settled with them, and advise that "five or seven meet 
persons " be chosen to manage their aflairs. They agree 
with Benjamin Alby, of Roxbury, to erect a corn mill for 
the use of the settlers, aud grant him a twenty-acre house 
lot and fifty acres additional on the side of the river farthest 
from the town, with an ecpial right in all future* divisions of 
land. The site was undoubtedly that of the Alvin Allen 
place, and the fifty acres was in the plain beyond Mill river. 
Here was the first grist mill, or mill of any kind, within the 
bounds of the town. The last recorded act of the Commit- 
tee was the appointment of Colonel Crowne " to enter all the 



14 ADDRESS. 



public acts respecting this plantation up to Feb. 2ud, 1667.'' 
In April following, Joshua Fisher makes return of his sur- 
vey of the township of Quinshepauge to the General Court, 
and recommends that it be called ''Mendham.'' The report 
is accepted, and on the 15th of May, 1667, the act of incor- 
poration is passed, and Mendon becomes a town. 

The first town meeting, under this act, was held on the 
7th of June, 1667, when Colonel Crowne, Benjamin Alby, 
Ferdinando Thayer, Daniel Lovett and John Tomson, Sen., 
were chosen selectmen. On the 24th of April following, 
the town voted to give Mr. Benjamin Eliot a call, " with his 
father's leave," to be their minister. Mr. Eliot was the 
youngest son of the great Indian apostle, John Eliot, and 
engaged at this time with his father in the Indian Missions at 
Natick and Grafton. Though he did not accept the call, it is 
probable that he was the first preacher of the gospel within 
the bounds of this town . At this meeting the i^eople seem 
to have been greatly in earnest. They voted to call a minis- 
ter, and to build "a meeting house with all speed, and to lo- 
cate it near Jos. White's saw pit, on the highest part of the 
land," which must have been near the old bank building. 
In September following they voted " to make the meeting 
house twenty-two feet square and twelve feet studd, with 
the roof gathered to a seven foot square and a turret on 
top." The roof, therefore, was of the now fashionable 
French style, and the steeple was in the centre ! It was 
built of logs, without floor, seats or windows, and with the 
timbers and roof open, so that, standing within, you could 
look up into that famous turret on top ! 

In the winter of 1668-9, Mr. John Rayner was preach- 
ing here, and in a petition of the inhaliitants to the General 
Court for more meadow, they say, God has given us good 
hope to enjoy the gospel and gather a church here by the 
help of jMr. Rayner whose labors we have had comfort of 
this winter, and trust that he will settle with us ; besides 
several good people, members of churches, ofier themselves 
to come, had we meadow to supply them. But the people 



ADDRESS. 15 



were disappoiutecl iu this hope of settling Mr. Eiiyner, and 
acting on the principle of the man who, finding *a horse shoe, 
immediately went to work to build a stable for the horse, 
they began to build " a house for the minister's encourage- 
ment who might settle with them." 

The minister's lot seems to have been where the Caleb 
Hay ward place is, and all we know of the appearance of his 
house, built by the town, is, that it "had two fire-places and 
a little lean-to sixteen feet long, with a chimney, as a kitch- 
en, towards Goodman Cook's house." 

The l)uilding of the minister's house proved effective in 
bringing a minister, and in December, 1669, the Rev. Joseph 
Emerson was settled, under the following stipulations, viz : 
" First, that he should receive £45 yearly — £10 at some shop 
in Boston or in money at this town, the remainder of the 
half year to be made up of 2 lbs. of butter for every cow, 
the rest iu pork, wheat, barley, and so to make up the 
year's pay in work, Indian corn. Rye, Peas, and Beef." 
Second. " The third year after he is settled to be paid £55 
j^early, and so as God shall enal)le them." Third. That 
the house be made fit to move into with all convenient 
speed. Fourth, to get for him twenty cords of wood yearly. 
And, lastly, that if the major part of the people inhabiting 
here shall carry it so unworthily toward Mr. ' Emerson as 
that there cannot be a reconciliation made amongst them- 
selves, then it is agreed to refer the diftereuce to the 
churches of ]\Iedfield, Dedham and Roxburj^ to hear and 
determine it. This agreement is signed by Mr. Emerson 
and twenty-two of the inhabitants, among whom we find 
the familiar names ofAldridge, Thompson, White, Cooke, 
Reed, Thayer, More, Staples and Tyler. 

The first assessment made b}^ the selectmen was in the 
summer of 1(568, for the sum often shillings " to pay Caleb 
the Indian, for killing the wolf near the town," and subse- 
quently there was another assessment of seven pounds for 
l\illing these formidable enemies to the growing flocks 
of the settlement. But our fathers had other troubles 



16 ADDRESS. 



more serious to them than prowling wolves or savages. 

We can r'eadily understand some of the many hardships 
of their position, in this place twenty -five irales from magis- 
trate or minister, or anybody " able to marry, and give the 
constable his oath," with a wilderness to subdue and the 
institutions of civilized and Christian society to establish. 
Every bushel of grain and pound of beef, pork and wool 
which they sold, to be transported to Boston, and every 
article of comfort or necessity which they required, to be 
brought back over roads of which only backwoodsmen can 
have any conception. But there was more than this. 

We read in the book of Job that on, a certain day when 
the sons of God came to present themselves before the 
Lord, Satan came with them. So it was here, so it is 
everywhere. Men never attempt to build a se'cure fold for 
the saints and the excellent of the earth, but the other kind 
are sure somehow to ffet in. And thouijh the " Hon. Com- 
mittee " put up over the gate " none but honest men and of 
good report admitted here," where the sons of God were to 
make their home, yet Satan came also. It is evident that 
the_y had very serious dissensions among themselves, nor is 
it difficult to understand how these dissensions may have 
arisen. Only a small portion of the inhabitants were free- 
men. Eigh£ years after the first settlement there were but 
twelve, including the minister, Avhen the number of house- 
holders was nearly forty. To be entitled to the privileges 
of a freeman at this time, a man must be a member of some 
orthodox church, and hold a certain amount of real estate. 
Two-thirds of the population here were shut out from this 
distinction and the privileges belonging to it, either wanting 
the required amount of property, or soundness of religious 
opinions, or standard of character, though they were com- 
pelled to share in all the expenses and dangers of the infant 
settlement. 

We can easily understand how this exclusion from the 
rights and privileges of citizenship on the ground of heresy 
in doctrine or poverty of purse, how the investing of a 



ADDRESS. 



17 



fiivored few with the dignity and importance of freemen, 
because they were a little richer or sounder than the mass, 
must have been the source of great discontent, bitterness and 
strife. It raised up a class of bold, defiant, reckless men, 
who had no particular interest in the affairs of the church or 
state, who had little or nothing at stake in the government, 
who felt deeply wronged by its dealings with them, and who 
reo^arded ministers and church members as linked together 
to keep them down. And at the same time it drew into 
the church a class of men with whom religion was only a 
stepping-stone to privilege and place, and who were con- 
tinually bringing it into contempt among honest men. Cer- 
tain it is that the twelve freemen, who, in 1672, petitioned 
the General Court to take " this poor place " under their 
immediate care, and heal if possible the dissensions of its 
people, had a very stormy time of it. They were disgusted 
with their experiment at town government, and desired the 
Court to appoint a committee to take charge of their affairs 
and re-establish peace among them, and so hinder "the 
workings of Satan." 

One Job Tiler seems to have been Satan's especial repre- 
sentative in this plantation. The first we hear of Job, he 
lived in Roxbury, and was arrested and fined for stealing 
hay from the Indians at Natick. Afterward he came to 
jMendon. How he should have got in here where only 
"honest men and of good report" were permitted to settle, 
it is difficult to understand. Probably he came as Satan 
usually does, in the guise of an angel of light. Job was 
ordered by the selectmen to come and work on the minis- 
ter's house ; but he never came. They sent the constable 
to summon him to appear before them on a certain "Fri- 
day, at one of the clock, at Gregory Cook's house, and 
answer for contempt of their orders." But Job told the 
constable " that he could n't and he would n't come, but if 
the selectmen had more to say to him than he to them, they 
might come where he was," — the insolent hay-stealer. 
Imagine the look of the selectmen when this answer was 

3 



18 ADDRESS. 



reported to them ! But what could they do ? Job would 
not work ou the minister's house, and he had insulted 
the town's authority. They "resolved to make complaint 
to the magistrates, of his mis-carriages on the Lord's day 
and at public assemblies, if he do not submit." But Job 
held out for five years, and in the meantime the 'minister's 
house was finished, and not a day's work had he done on it. 
At last, however, probably on the appearance of the com- 
mittee of the General Court, he submitted, and the record 
says, "gave satisfaction for that oflence." Stubborn, irrev- 
erent Job Tiler ! Good blood was in thee, nevertheless, — 
for John, afterwards deacon of the church, was thy son, 
— and a long line of useful, brave and good men came of 
thee ! ^Vlio but Captain Nathan, thy grandson, could be 
trusted by the town with that forty pounds voted in 1737 
to make the fish run up Pawtucket Falls. And who but 
Captain Nathan that dug and watched and coaxed so patient- 
ly to make them come up to these hungry regions from the 
sea, could represent the town so well at "the Great and 
General Court," through the stormy days that preceded the 
Eevolution, — and when that desperate struggle came, then 
an old man, was foremost in all matters relating to the pub- 
lic safety and weal ? It was a good day for the town when 
"Job Tiler" came here, though he never worked on the 
minister's house, and grossly insulted the selectmen. 

We come now to troubles in the town's history more 
serious than the scoffing of heretics and the mis-carriages 
of Sabbath breakers. When travelers described to Tho- 
reau, the Concord naturalist and misanthrope, the wonderful 
things in Arctic or tropic regions, he would say, "I have 
observed the same phenomena in Concord." It is somewhat 
the case in the history of our town. The mustering of 
armies, the sack and conflagration of houses, the murder of 
men, women and children by the barbarous hand of war, 
which form the great staple of history, have taken place in 
this our native town, in the woods and fields and roads 
most familiar to our feet. 



ADDRESS. 19 



Eleven or twelve years have passed since first the set- 
tler's axe was beard on this spot. Wide and fair now is tlie 
clearing. Not less than forty honses are scattered up and 
down this eastern and southern slope, from the Seth Daven- 
port place to Alby's mill at the Allen place, and from Mud- 
dy Brook to the Pond. Broad and rich are the fields of 
corn, wheat and clover, pleasant the little dwellings with 
their gardens and lilac bushes, and a few apple and cherry 
trees. Sheep, cows and oxen begin to be numerous in the 
rich pastures. Hard-working men and women have made 
the wilderness smile and blossom as the rose. 

The honorable committee have healed the dissensions, and 
peace and security have settled down upon "this poor 
place." July has come, and the men are busy in cutting 
their meadows and gathering their fu'st crops of English 
hay. On the fourteenth of that month, 1G75, the Nipmuck 
Indians, led by Matoonas, at the instigation of King Philip 
who was then in the neighborhood, fell upon the town and 
killed four or five men working in a field. Who they were 
and where they fell we have no means of determining. It 
is singular that an event which must have made so deep an 
impression on the people, has left so slight a record in our 
history, and that we cannot tell where this, the first blood 
shed in that terrible war within the bounds of the Massa- 
chusetts colony, was spilled. Others were killed afterwards 
in the neighborhood, among them the wife and son of 
Matthias Pufi"er. 

A dark cloud of anxiety and fear now settled down upon 
the place. With tears and lamentations they tenderly gath- 
ered the bodies of the slain and laid them away in some 
pleasant spot, we know not where. The houses and farms 
remote from this central point were abq,udoned, and the 
people fled to other places, or gathered here to save their 
flocks and growing crops. All sense of security was gone. 
They only dared to go abroad in companies. While some 
worked in the fields and gardens, others watched for the 
lurking foe. While the wife was milking the cow, the hus- 



20 ADDRESS. 



band stood guard with the loaded musket. They carried 
their guns to church, and worshipped God, momentarily ex- 
pecting the murderous cry of attack. A garrison of twelve 
men was formed, and placed in charge of Sergeant Joseph 
White. A stockade was built, and a guard nightly set over 
the town. The Council of Magistrates sent a troop of horse 
to range the woods between Mend on and Hingham. A 
small force was sent to strengthen the garrison, and the in- 
habitants ordered not to desert the place, on penalty of the 
forfeiture of all their rights here. Many had already gone 
t<3 lihode Island, and other places. Those who remained, 
were gathered into the largest houses. Their cattle were 
driven off to places of safety or stolen by the Indians, and 
many fine fields of corn, wheat and rye were destroyed or 
lost. On the 27th of July, Capt. Henchman was ordered to 
march into the Nipmuck country to treat with the Indians, 
and secure, if possible, those concerned in the attack on 
Mendon. Two months later we find Rev. Mr. Emerson, 
the minister, and Ferdinaudo Thayer sent as messengers to 
the council, to ask that the Praying Indians, of Hassauamis- 
set or Grafton, be removed to Mendon, and employed in 
erecting fortifications. The petition was granted, but the 
Indians deserted their Christian teachers to join their own 
kith and blood. Three weeks later, we have a letter from 
Mendon, written by Lieutenant Upham, giving the Council 
an account of the desolate condition of the people. He 
says there are but twelve men in garrison here, and " they 
are but poor helps, with their arms very defective. He has 
just returned from a long expedition in search of the foe, 
which was entirely unsuccessful." 

On the same day a report of the above expedition was 
written here and ^rwarded to the Council by Captain John 
Gorum, the commander. He and Lieutenant Upham had 
joined their forces at Mendon, amounting to eighty-eight 
men, and marched in pursuit of the Nipmucks through Has- 
sanamisset, but could find nothing of them. Says " they 
had been fourteen weeks in the field and are much worn 



ADDRESS. 



21 



out, but will march ou the morrow towards Mount Hope." 
In the meantime the means of subsistence were fast becom- 
ing exhausted in the town. The few remaining cattle were 
killed to maintain the soldiers, the people were huddled in 
great discomfort into two houses, they were almost desti- 
tute of arms and ammunition, and feared the soldiers nearly 
as much as the Indians. The garrison send a letter to the 
Council representing that the town's people will give them 
no assistance on the fortifications, and that some of them 
say " if a thousand Indians should attack the soldiers they 
would not stir out of the house to help them." The old 
Job Tiler spirit of insubordination was still rife among 
them ; and no doubt, looking forward to a long, dreary 
winter when they would be almost cut off from the world, 
they were anxious to desert the town and return to the 
Bay. Captain Henchman is sent out here in November to 
look after the Nipmucks again. He writes to the Council 
on the day of his arrival that the inhabitants of the town 
"are in a pestered condition." The next day he writes and 
says his scouts have just returned from Hassanamisset, and 
report that the Indian houses there are still standing, and 
the doors fast ; that they found a])out sixty bushels of corn, 
and that the Indians are building wigwams at a new plant- 
ing; that he shall march to their new fields, or go in the 
night to capture them. Two days later he writes he has 
marched to Hassanamisset, and found nothing new. Would 
have brought away the corn l)ut the Mendon people would 
not assist him. Calls tliis a distressed place, — says the 
people have not fire or lodging-places to answer their neces- 
sities, — that they cannot subsist if they stay ; says in con- 
clusion, " I am about to march away and leave the command 
with Sergeant White, as I found it, having pressed upon 
them the sad consequences of breaking up a town, rend- 
ing a church, dismantling a garrison and encouraging the 
enemy." Evidently the situation is becoming d(3sperate 
and the fortress of Mendon must l)e dismantled. 

On the sixth. Secretary Rawson writes him that he has 



22 ADDRESS. 



sent five* hundred biscuits to Meudon and five hundred to 
Marlborough, for his soldiers, and orders him to bring the 
corn across the river, and secure it from the enemy. On 
the 10th of November, 1675, the valiant captain gives an 
account of his attack on the Indians, at Hassanamisset. 
With twenty-two mounted men, " in the close of the night," 
he marches to Hassanamisset, then, discovering their fire, 
dismounts and marches "in two files, himself leading the 
right, and Lieutenant Curtis the other," to within musket 
shot of the wigwam, when their dog gave the alarm. He 
orders some to fire, halloos and runs on to charge as fast 
as he could. The lieutenant first reaches the wigwam and 
receives a mortal shot at the door. He supposes his men 
were following, but finds there are not above five in all — 
the others having mysteriously disappeared. " One soldier 
more," he says, "was wounded, who cried out exceedingly, 
disheartening them with me at the wigwam. I called on 
my men to fall on and shoot into the wigwam, which no 
more doing, them up with me fell ofi". I cried of them for 
the Lord's sake to stay from retreating as we did. I gave 
up myself and them with me for lost, and it was a peculiar 
mercy we were not all slain. As soon as mounted I would 
have had my men ride up and fire, to get oS the wounded 
and secure the rear, but all were upon flight, though I 
threatened to run them through. At our return we find 
only the two first wanting. My lieutenant is a great loss 
to me and have not to supply his place, but I beg a sancti- 
fied use of this and former frowns ; for we might and had 
an opportunity to cill all in the wigwam off"." How utterly 
the poor captain's hopes must have been dashed by the dis- 
astrous result of this expedition. "This sad frown," as he 
calls it, came from no want of courage or skill in him, but a 
panic seized his men and they became uncontrollable. The 
Council immediately sent him twelve troopers well equip- 
ped and mounted, who are ordered to go to Captain Hench- 
man's assistance at Mendon, or wherever he may be. 

This is nearly all we find in the records concerning King 



ADDRESS. 23 



Philip's war in relation to Meudon. The town must have 
been abandoned soon afterwards by the garrison and the in- 
habitants. In February, 1676, soon after the attack on 
Lancaster, the Indians burned all the dwellings and that won- 
derful meeting-house. The fruits of twelve years of hard 
toil were swept away in a few hours, and this flock in the 
wilderness scattered over the country. During the spring 
and summer of 1676, the war was virtually brought to a close. . 
The chiefs of the Nipmucks were the first to make peace 
with the English. They delivered up Matoonas, who led 
the attack on Meudon, and he was bound to a tree and shot 
by men of his own tribe, on Boston Common. His body 
was hung in chains beside that of his son, who had been 
previously executed, and both remained there, a ghastly and 
sickening spectacle, for years. Peace and security were 
not restored, however, for two or three years. Gradually 
the old settlers came back, and in 1678 we find them here 
in considerable numbers. Eev. Mr. Emerson never re- 
turned ; he died in Concord, in 1680, the ancestor of six 
generations of distinguished clergymen and scholars. 

The re-establishment of the town, after the war, was a 
slow and difficult work. The former inhabitants generally 
came back, but they had saved little from the wreck of their 
property and were all poor, and it was many years before 
they felt entirely secure from the Indians. They ask the 
General Court to prohibit the Indians from coming into their 
territory, and also to forbid the sale of spirituous liquors to 
them. Three murders, they say, have already been at- 
tempted here by drunken Indians. They complain of Rob- 
ert Tafte for trading with them, and ask that he be re- 
strained from such traffic. 

It is indicative of the character of the early settlers that 
the first public business transacted by them, after the war, 
except the choice of selectmen, was in relation to building 
a house for the minister "that should first settle with them." 
They had lost almost everything — they could only re-estab- 
lish the town by facing great hardships and dangers ; but 



24 ADDRESS. 



poverty and privation should not hinder them from main- 
taining the worship of God in " this poor place," and keep- 
ing themselves and their families under the influence of re- 
ligious teaching ! In a noble spirit of self-sacrifice they be- 
gan, at once, to build again the Lord's house and prepare a 
fitting place for the minister. 

The second meeting-house was probably erected on the 
site of the first, but we find nothing about its location or 
appearance. The minister's house was " 24 ft. long, 18 ft. 
wide, and 14 ft. between joynts, with a lean-to and a gable 
end " ! and the frame cost twenty pounds. Rev. Grindal 
Rawson was called to be their minister, October 4th, 1680, 
at a salary of twenty pounds and board, with a horse to be 
kept for his use. To the new parsonage he brought his 
young wife, the daughter of Rev. John Wilson of Medfield ; 
but his earthly felicity was not quite perfect, for the chim- 
neys of the new house would not carry up the smoke. 
Whereupon the town chose a committee, consisting of Fer- 
dinando Thayer, Simon Peck and Abraham Staples, "to 
take down and rectify Mr. Rawson's chimneys, and see that 
the work be carried on to the town's best advantage, accord- 
ing to their prudence and discretion." A minister was of 
some importance in those days, when even the smoking of 
his chimneys was a matter of public concern. 

After his settlement, Mr. Rawson's salarj^ was fifty-five 
pounds a year. He remained the minister of this church 
until his death, in 1715, — thirty-five years. In a petition 
to the General Court from the inhabitants of Mendon, he is 
spoken of as "an able, faithful, painful minister of the 
Word, by whose labors we do hear the joyful sound, a fam- 
ine whereof we hope is esteemed by us a more fatal punish- 
ment than a famine of bread." He was a noble, self-sacri- 
ficing Christian minister. With his salary of fifty-five 
pounds a year, — less than two hundred and fifty dollars, — 
he reared a family of eight sous and five daughters, giving 
them all a good education, and preparing them for high 
positions in society. Grindal Rawson, Jr., was graduated 



ADDRESS. 25 



at Harvard College, — probably the first graduate from this 
town, — and became the minister of South Hadley. His 
grandson, Deacon Edward, took an active part in all the 
affairs of the town, was representative for many years in the 
General Court, and a delegate to the Continental Congress. 
Three of the daughters of the Rev. Mr. Rawson married 
clergymen. He was undoubtedly one of the cultivated men 
of that period. He learned the Indian language, that he 
might preach to the natives in their own tongue. For years 
he gathered a little congregation of them in the church here, 
on Sunday evening, and made great eflbrts to instruct them 
in the truths of religion. In 1709 he proposed to the town 
if they would employ a Latin schoolmaster, to board him 
for four years without charge, in order to provide the best 
means for the education of the youth. The proposition was 
accepted, and a school established here, where boys were fit- 
ted for college at the town's expense, more than an hundred 
and fifty years ago. Cotton Mather, in his Lives of Good 
Men, says of Grindal Rawson, "Such services as he rendered 
the country are pyramids " ! Thirty years after his death, the 
town voted to erect a monument over his grave, in grateful 
remembrance of his character and work. Grindal Rawson 
and Susanna Wilson, his wife, lie side by side in the old 
burying ground, and many generations have risen to call 
them blessed. 

The population seems to have increased quite rapidly 
after the re-establishment of the settlement. The first tax 
list that has been preserved in our records, is that of 1685, 
which contains fifty -tln-ee names, and probably represents 
upwards of two hundred people. It contains the familiar 
names of Chapin, Thayer, Cook, Torrey, Taft, Aldrich, 
Fairbanks, Hayward, Holbrook, Warfield, Staples, Tyler,* 
Reed, Wheclock, Alby, Darling, Pratt, and Thompson, the 
ancestors of the principal families found here to-day. On 
this list Samuel Hayward pays above one-twentieth of the 



* Formerly spelled Tiler. * 

4 



26 ADDRESS. 



whole tax, aud Josiah Chapin, Joseph White, John Thomp- 
son, Wm. Holbrook, and James Lovett, about the same. 
On the tax list of 1704 there are seventy-three names, of 
which nearly one-fourth are Tafts, Thayers, and Cooks, 
which indicates that these families have held their present 
relative numerical strength in Meudon for one hundred and 
fifty years. 

At this time, each man belonging to the militia company 
or train band, was obliged to cut wood for the minister one 
day in the year ! The first saw-mill that we have any 
account of, was erected between Rock Meadow and School 
Meadow, by Josiah and Angel Torrey, in 1691, the site 
now occupied by the saw-mill of the late Obadiah Wood. 
That spot has probably been occupied more than one hun- 
dred and seventy-five years for a similar purpose, and a 
portion of School Meadow was held by the Torrey family for 
nearly the same period. In 1690 the town had outgrown 
its meeting-house, and voted to build a new one, which was 
the third. We know nothing about its location and appear- 
ance, except that it was thirty feet square, and sixteen feet 
between joints, and that "it was let out to John Andrews of 
this town." Deacon Warfield was "discharged from his tax 
for the minister's salary, for taking care of the meeting- 
house, sweeping out the same, and keeping the doors from 
being damnified." I suppose the "damnifying" of the door 
was by putting up notices on them. Subsequently, there 
were four posts erected in different parts of the town, on 
Avhich all \>'arrants and notices were posted, and a vote 
passed that anybody might tear down notices of strays put 
on the meeting-house. 

Josiah Chapin was the first representative to the General 
Court after the King Philip War. He was chosen in 1692. 
It is singular that the town should have been so long 
without representation in that body. Probably it was on 
account of the poverty of the people, who found it very 
difficult to pay their town and county taxes, and who pre- 
ferred to be unrepresented rather than carry the additional 



ADDRESS. 27 



burden of paying their representative. In 1693 the town 
chose Timothy Winter as their representative ; but not feel- 
ing quite satisfied as to his capacity to fill the place, they 
ap23ointed a committee of three, consisting of Josiali Chapin, 
Samuel Hayward and Josiah Torrey, to instruct him. They 
gave him written directions how to act on all matters per- 
taining to the town's welfare, and then charged him, if any 
new business came up where he was in doubt what to do, 
to consult them immediately. The seventh division of the 
town lands was made in 1719, when there were one hundred 
and fifty persons, including the ministry and the school, 
entitled to shares or lots, which would indicate, if these 
were heads of families, a population of six or seven 
hundred. 

The first mention that I have found of a public school, is 
in 1701, when Deacon Warfield was chosen schoolmaster, 
the town paying him "£5 for six months for his pains, and 
a penny a week for each child that came to school." After 
this a Latin teacher was employed, but who he was we have 
no means of determining. As the settlement extended far- 
ther from the Centre, west, south and east, the people 
became greatly dissatisfied that the school should be kept 
through the year in this village. Accordingly, in 1714, 
they voted to employ "Martin Pearce to keep school for the 
year, and to give him £17, and find him board and dyett," 
the school to be kept "six months at the schoolhouse, and 
six months on the outskirts of the town," — meaning by out- 
skirts, what is now Uxbridge and Milford. The next 
schoolmaster was Wm. Boyce, who was to receive twenty- 
eight pounds per annum "if he kept the school in one place, 
but if he kept a moving school, then he should have £ 30 ; 
and what time the said Boyce is unnecessarily absent from 
the school, or what time is lost, he shall give an account to 
the selectmen, and so much of his wages be reducted pro- 
portionals ly." 

The entire expenses of the town in 1721 amounted to 
£110, of which the minister received one-half, the repre- 



28 ADDRESS. 



sentative £16, the school master £20, and the balance was 
used for the poor and for miscellaneous charges. A fund 
had been gradually accumulating from the sale of school 
lands, the annual income of which was devoted to school 
purposes. In 1727 this fund amounted to nearly £180. 
" School Dames " were first appointed in that year, "for the 
outskirts," and Milford and Uxbridge had each a school 
taught in a private house. We find the first mention of 
Quakers in the same year, and also of irons for the town 
stocks ; not that the latter had any relation to the former, 
for Mendon always maintained a large hospitality towards 
the Quakers, and voted, in 1742, to allow them to take 
two rods in width ofi" from " the ten rod road " to enlarge the 
yard of their meeting-house, provided it was not more than 
fourteen rods in length. Josiah Marshall, A. M., was em- 
ployed for four years, at £30 per annum, to keep school, 
according to the Province law, first, for six months in the 
school-house, and afterwards wherever the selectmen 
thought most likely to serve the general interest. He was 
succeeded by Joseph Dorr, Jr., and Moses Taft, both na- 
tives of this town, at that time in Harvard College, who 
were employed "to keep school by spells, as they could 
asree with them." In 1750 the first school-house was 
erected in Milford, then called East or Mill Eiver Precinct, 
near the meeting-house, and thus one of the outskirts was 
provided for. 

The present system of district schools was established in 
1759, mare than a hundred years ago, when the town was 
divided into eleven districts for highway and school pur- 
poses. For a long period each district drew from the town 
treasury only what it paid in on the school tax, which of 
course operated badly for the poorer districts in the out- 
skirts. During the period immediately preceding the 
Kevolution, the the annual sum expended for schools was 
generally £60 including the income from the school fund. 
The town seems to have held this fund in trust and paid 
the annual interest as a part of the town expenses. During 



ADDRESS. 



29 



the Revolution, when the burdens and sacritices of the war 
fell heavily on the town and the currency became as worth- 
less as that of the late confederate states, this fund seems to 
have been absorbed and lost. 

One of the most prominent ol^jccts in the memory of the 
people of this town is the old meeting-house that stood 
close by the burying ground, on the road leading to Dam 
Swamp. It was abandoned by the church after the erection 
of this edefice, in 1820, and for twenty-five years was used 
for town meetings and other secular purposes. How well 
we remember it, standing there forsaken and dilapidated, 
looking down upon the silent abodes of the dead. Many of 
us stealthily tried our skill in smashing its windows, though 
in the night, when darkness brooded over it and the graves 
around, some of us I know had an awe of it w^hicli led us to 
pass it with hushed and quickened step. That old meeting- 
house had a history that reached back to 1730, when the town 
voted to build it, — one hundred and eighteen years from the 
time when it was finally pulled down. It was the fourth 
meeting-house erected here. It had its origin in storms 
and strife. There was a long and desperate struggle over 
its location. The outskirts of the town, Milford and what 
there was then of Blackstone, pulled to the east and the 
south. At length it was fixed there by the majority, but 
the minority was strong enough to withhold supplies from 
time to time, and block the wheels, and so it was six or 
seven years before it was finally completed. A grand time 
the people had when the new church was raised. They 
made a great eflTort to erase all the old differences and 
grudges, voting a barrel of Rhum to introduce an era of 
general good-feeling. But the mal-contents were not to be 
won in that way, and so on the night after it was raised, 
they undertook to cut it down with axes ; but an alarm was 
raised and the sacrilegious rebels disjjersed. It created a 
tremendous sensation. A town meeting was instantly 
called, and the selectmen instructed " to find out who, by 
cutting, had damnified the meeting-house ! " With what re- 



30 ADDRESS. 



suit we know not. In 1849, when it was demolished, the 
marks of the battle were seen on its sound and massive 
posts — a century and a quarter after they were made. 

This was the iirst meeting-house that contained pews. 
But they were built by individuals at their own expense — 
the town selling the space for them, and giving "the elderly 
men who bore the greatest charge in the town, " the first 
choice. 

The Reverend Joseph Dorr, the third minister, successor 
and son-in-law of Mr. Rawson, was settled in 1716, and re- 
mained here until his death, in 1767 — above fifty-one years — 
a long, peaceful and prosperous ministry. Many of our 
grandfathers and grandmothers were baptised by Mr. Dorr, in 
the old meeting-house. There were gathered the people to 
deliberate on the state of the country when the news came 
of the passage of the Stamp Act, and of the Boston Port 
Bill, and of the Boston Massacre. There were heard 
speeches, full of a great earnestness for the rights of men, 
and a holy devotion to the sacred cause of liberty and coun- 
try. There were gathered the little bands of brave men 
and true which the town sent out to fight in the great strug- 
gle for Independence, to receive the parting "God-speed" 
of neighl)ors and friends, and invoke the blessing of the 
Almighty on themselves and the cause. And there they 
came when the struggle was over, and the victory won, to 
pour out their souls in thanksgiving to God who had given 
them the victory ! What a thrilling history of anxiety, 
doubt and sorrow, of enthusiasm and rejoicing, of faith, 
hope and love, centers in that venerable house where, through 
the storm and sunshine of a hundred years, the people gath- 
ered to deliberate on the aflairs of the country, and wor- 
ship their God. 

The part taken by the people of this town in those diffi- 
culties with Great Britain, which culminated in the war of 
the Revolution, was a most honorable one. The questions 
which brought on the struggle were met by our fathers in a 
firm and manly spirit. So far as we can ascertain from the 



ADDRESS. 



31 



records, there was but one sentiment among the people, and 
that was to resist to the last every invasion of their charter 
rights and privileges. But when they saw a determined 
and persistent purpose, on the part of the mother country, 
to disregard all her pledges made to the American colonies, 
and trample upon their constitutional rights as British sub- 
jects, they were among the first to proclaim the great ideas of 
free, republican government, and strike for the prize of in- 
dependent national existence. I am not well enough ac- 
quainted with the state of opinion existing at that time 
among the several American colonies, and among the differ- 
ent towns of this colony, to be a competent judge in this mat- 
ter ; but of this I am very confident, that no town within 
the bounds of Massachusetts was much, if at all, in advance 
of this in discerning what the true issue was and proclaim- 
ing in what it must end. It is my impression, from the 
little I do know about this matter, that some of the first ut- 
terances of the principles of the immortal Declaration were 
heard in that old meeting-house, from the lips of Joseph 
Dorr, that the first whispers of independence were among 
the people of this town who had caught the idea from his 
glowing soul. I make this claim in no spirit of boasting or 
self-exaggeration. It is not for the mountain peaks to boast 
that they are first lighted up by the glory of the coming 
day. It is not for the warm and sheltered villages to boast 
that they first feel the soft breath of spring and blush into 
beauty and fragrance. No more is it for the country, the 
town or the man, in which the breath of the Almighty kin- 
dles anew the flame of liberty, humanity or religion. In 
every great era of progress, the same ideas and the same 
spirit take possession of the minds and hearts of men, "as 
the wind bloweth where it listeth — thou canst not tell 
whence it cometh nor whither it goeth." So it was in the 
two years preceding the revolution, the sacred fires of lib- 
erty were lighted in ten thousand souls. The great ideas of 
the Declaration silently dawned on the minds of the people. 
They were in the air they breathed and the light by which 
they saw. 



32 ADDRESS. 



It is a matter of record, however, that more than three 
years before Jefferson wrote the Declaration, and the Conti- 
nental Congress proclaimed it, its fundamental principles 
were embodied in a series of resolutions reported to a town 
meeting held here, adopted, and entered on the town book. 
On the tenth of February, 1773, a letter was laid before the 
town from the Committee of Correspondence of the town of 
Boston, showing "wherein our invaluable charter rights and 
privileges were infringed upon by sundry acts of the Parlia- 
ment of Gr. Britain." The town voted to choose a com- 
mittee of seven freeholders, to consider a matter of so great 
importance, and prepare resolutions proper for said town to 
act on at the adjournment of the meeting. The committee 
consisted of Joseph Dorr, Esq. , James Sumner, John Tyler, 
Deacon Ed. Rawson, Lieutenant Joseph Johnson, and Wil- 
liam Torrey. At the adjourned meeting, held March 1st, 
1773, the committee reported the following resolutions : 

1. Besolved. That all men have naturally an equal right to Life. Lib- 
erty, and Property. Therefore, 

2. Besolved. That all just and lawful Gov't must necessarily originate 

in the free consent of the People. 

■ 

3. Besolved, That the Good, Safety and Happiness of the People, is 
the Great End of Civil Gov't; and must be eonsidei-ed as the only 
rational object in all original compacts and Political Institutions. 

4. Besolved, That a Principle of self-preservation being deeply plant- 
ed by the God of Nature in every Human Breast, is as necessary, not 
only to the well-being of Individuals, but also to the order of tlie Uni- 
verse, as attraction and cohesion are to the preservation of material 
Bodies, and the order of the natural world. Therefore, 

5. Besolved, That a Right to Liberty and Property, (which are 
natural means of self-preservation), is absolutely Inalienable, and can 
never lawfully be given up by ourselves or talvcn from us by others. 

Finally, When we reflect on the arduous enterprise of our forefathers 
in transplanting themselves to the Wilds of America, the innumerable 
fatigues and dangers, the vast expense of treasure and of blood that 
attended tlieir beginning and carrjang on a Settlement here among the 
Savages of the Desert ; and at the same time consider the prodigious 
accession of wealth and i^ower to the mother country from these 
extended Settlements, it still sets a keener edge on the sense of our 
numerous grievances. And we cannot help viewing the late rigorous 



ADDRESS. 



33 



and burdensome Impositions laid on us by the hand of the Parent 
Country, as a departure from those truly noble and magnanimous Prin- 
ciples of Liberty which used heretofore to add a distinguishing Lustre 
and glory to the British name. 

" Voted, that the foregoing Resolves be entered on the Town Book, 
that our Children in years to come may know the sentiments of their 
Fathers in regard to their invaluable Rights and Liberties." 

On the fourteenth of July, 1774, the town took action 
concerning the Boston Port Bill, and the blocking up of the 
harbor of Boston. How grandly these words sound as we 
read them to-day : 

'' Conscious of no alternative between the Horrors of Slavery, or the 
Carnage and desolation of Civil war, but suspension of all Commercial 
intercourse with the Island of Great Britain, the inhabitants of this 
Town do come to the following Resolutions : 

1st. That from henceforth we will suspend all commercial intercourse 
with Gr. Britain, until said Act for Blocking up the harbor of Boston be 
repealed, and the restoration of our Charter Rights be obtained. 

2nd. That we will not knowingly purchase, or suffer any one under 
us to purchase, or consume, in any maimer, any goods, wares or mer- 
chandise, we shall knoiv, or have good reason to suspect, to be imported 
into America from Great Britain. 

3rd. That if any persons preferring their own private Interest to the 
salvation of their now perishing country, shall still continue to import 
goods from G. B.. or purchase them of those who do import, they shall 
be looked upon by us as persons inimical to their Country." 

But they were not satisfied with resolves. They soon 
became satisfied that their only hope was in active resist- 
ance, and accordingly began to make preparations for the 
desperate struggle whose dark clouds were fast gathering 
about them. 

Dr. William Jennison and Mr. Henry Penniman, each 
presented the town with a fieldpiece. One hundred and 
thirteen pounds was raised to buy powder, tire arras, lead, 
flints, iron balls for the two fieldpicces, and carriages to 
mount the same. A committee was appointed consisting of 
Captain Nathan Tyler, Captain Nelson and David Daniels, 
" to purchase said arms and procure said carriages as soon 



34 ADDRESS. 



as possible." A Committee of Correspondence and of Safe- 
ty was chosen, consisting of Captain Tyler, Deacon Ed. 
Eawson, Jas. Sumner, Nath. Nelson, and Beuoni Benson ; 
and Joseph Dorr was elected the first delegate to the Pro- 
vincial Congress. A third of all men liable to military duty 
were enrolled as minute men, and supplies provided for 
them when called to march. And on the twenty-seventh of 
May, 1776, — two months before the Declaration was made, 
— the town voted to advise and instruct their representative 
to acquaint the General Assembly, that if the Honorable the 
Continental Congress shall think it for the benefit and safety 
of the United American Colonies to declare them inde- 
pendent of the Kingdom of Great Britain, the said town 
will approve the measure, and with their lives and fortunes 
support them therein. 

Joseph Dorr I suppose to have been the moving spirit 
in forming the public sentiment which led to these grand 
utterances, and these bold and decided measures. He was 
the son of the third minister. Rev. Joseph Dorr, born here, 
and graduated at Harvard College. I find that he preached 
occasionally for several years, and that he was licensed by 
the Meudon Association of Ministers, of which his father 
was the founder, and the moderator during his life, but that 
he was never ordained. He resided here for twenty years 
after his graduation, — was representative to the Great and 
General Court for four years, delegate to the Continental 
Congress, town clerk, church clerk, selectman, moderator 
of town meetings, — anything and everything to serve the 
public weal, — one of those characters, or geniuses rather, 
who can fill any place and fill it well. In this respect, 
much like a certain physician, now a resident of the town, 
whom I have in my eye. Dorr threw his whole strength, 
mind and soul into the contest. It is said that he gave 
three hundred days of each year, for six years, to the cause, 
refusing any compensation for his services from town or 
country. After the war he became judge of probate for 
this county, which ofiice he held for eighteen years. He 



ADDRESS. 35 



removed to Brookfiekl, where he lived until his death. 
He was undoubtedly a man of fine ability and culture, and 
one of the noblest men the town has produced. 

It would be interesting to follow the records through the 
War of the Revolution, and notice the action of the town, 
from time to time through the struggle. Joseph Dorr did 
not stand alone here. Around him Avere gathered many 
noble, devoted patriots, — Deacon Ed. Eawson, Jas. Sum- 
ner, Captains Kathan and John Tyler, Lieutenant Jos. 
Johnson, Doctor Jennison, Peter and Henry Penniman, 
Captain Nelson, Lieutenant Jos. Gibbs, and Benoni and 
Joseph Benson, — all have an honorable place and deserve 
grateful remembrance. I should be much more interested, 
however, in tracing the footsteps of the men who went into 
the field, and won, by their sufferings and blood, what 
many of these only resolved should be done, — the men who 
went from the humble homes of this town in the rank and 
file, and perhaps never rose above it, who stood in the 
trenches on Bunker Hill and beat back the hosts of tyranny, 
who were with Washington in the dark days of the retreat 
from Long Island and the winter at Valley Forge, who 
helped to crush Burgoyne at Bennington and Saratoga, 
and gather the fruits of final triumph at Yorktown, — the 
men from this town who followed Arnold through the awful 
sufferings of that march into Canada, and those who tasted 
something of the horrors of Andersouville on the Jersey 
prison-ship at New York. W^e catch glimpses of the sons 
of Mendou in all these places, and know that their graves 
were made on many of the principal battle-fields of that 
war. These are the men who bore the burden and heat of 
that terrible day, winning for us our national existence. A 
halo of glory shall forever encircle their labors, and the 
benedictions of mankind rest upon their heads. 

Meudon may not have much to boast of in the present. 
The hand of the spoiler has been laid upon her again and 
again, and she has been shorn of her once grand propor- 
tions. One hundred and fifty-seven years ago the legisla- 



36 



ADDRESS. 



tive shears clipped off a goodly breadth for the benefit of 
her eastern neighbor, Bellingham. Seventeen years later 
they cut her through and through, to endow her fairest 
daughter, Uxbridge, with a princess' portion. The old lady 
gave her consent cheerfully, for she dearly loved the fair 
maid that sits by the bountiful streams, but she bestirred 
herself to save the remnant of her tattered robe, and so 
fought desperately to keep her bouncing but somewhat im- 
pertinent boy of Mill river from rending it again. But af- 
ter nearly forty years of cuffs and blows, the sturdy up- 
start tore off the veil through which she looked out on the 
coming day ! Her neighbors of Northbridge and Upton, 
watching their opportunity, stole away her bonnet and shawl. 
But still was the old lady strong and rich and noble, with 
her great river wound close about her feet, studded with busy 
villages ; still was she proud, secure and dignified. But, 
alas ! in an evil day, the Philistines stole upon her, and, un- 
kindest act of all, cut off her waterfall! And now the old 
dame sits here on the hills, in age, poverty and loueliness, 
proud of her past, proud of her poverty. She has made 
herself poor by enriching her children. Like the Spartan 
mother, when asked for her jewels, pointiug to the east and 
the west, the north and the south, she says, "behold them." 
To-day, oiDcning her arms, she calls them back to nestle 
once more on the bosom whence they drew their lusty life ; 
and when, in future, they are tempted to make light of her 
shorn and tattered robes, she asks them to remember how 
they came to be in such condition, to honor, in her age, the 
mother that bore them. 

Looking back over this broad field of two hundred years, 
there are many names which it would be pleasant to call up 
and dwell upon — names that wo might claim with pride as 
belonging to our history. It would not be modest in me to 
say that the best jDortion of her young men has gone out 
from her to buikl up great fortunes and Avin reputations in 
distant cities ; that the best part of her brain and heart is 
drawn off, year by year, to enrich other portions of the 



ADDRESS. 37 



country. But it is only just and right to say that lier sons 
and daughters are found in all the principal cities and vil- 
lages of the land ; that they have risen to eminence in all 
the different fields of enterprise and of usefulness spread 
out before them ; that they have won high and honorable 
places as merchants, teachers, lawyers and statesmen ; that 
if we could, this day, call the long roll of her good and true 
men and her noble women, whose homes are scattered over 
the whole continent, it would be a list that none of us need 
blush to own. But I am not specially interested in tracing 
out the men, who are or have been rich or great, that were 
born in jNIendon. It is a matter of very little importance to 
us or to the country, where this man or that woman happened 
to be born, or the few who have lived here and gained some 
little notoriety in one way or another. That is no fair esti- 
mate of the fruits of these two hundred years of our history. 
What if half a dozen farmers here have raised a few large 
cabbages, or turnips, or pumkpins, in their gardens and fields, 
or half-acres of corn, or rye, or grass, that may take the 
prizes at the fair ! Of what consequence are these excep- 
tional growths to the general interests of agriculture and of 
the people ? But what the general yield may be in the ten 
thousand corn fields and wheat fields of the land, is a mat- 
ter of immense importance. For when the general average 
rises above a certain point, prosperity and abundance are 
found in all our villages and homes ; but when it falls much 
below that point, ruin and famine stare millions in the face. 
It is of no public importance how deep and clear the water 
may be in your Avell or cistern, but it is of vital concern 
that the water gushing from ten thousand springs among the 
hills be pure, and sweet, and living. So life, in this town, 
is to be measured ; not by what the few have attained or 
done, but by Avhat the many are ; not by this merchant, 
lawyer, minister or physician who chanced to be born or to 
live here, but by the fathers and mothers dwelling in these 
homes and the sons and daughters they train up for life's 
work, by the height to which the general average of intelli- 



38 



ADDRESS. 



gence, of virtue and gooduess here rises. When life in 
these homes and on these farms and in these shops sinks down 
to the level of things material, sensuous and base, then it mat- 
ters not that some great lawyer, author, or statesman was 
born here, strife and confusion and misery Avill dwell here. 
And when the springs of influence in these homes are pure, 
sweet, and Christian, the tide of life will rise to higher and 
higher levels, and a nobler work be done, and a halo of ever- 
brightening glory rest upon the place. You will care little 
about this man or family that has risen into notice, but 
point with pride to your farms and schools and churches, 
and the men and women found on them and in them, as the 
true measure of what you have done and what you will con- 
tinue to do. 

Two hundred years of our history have gone, — its strug- 
gles and hardships are over. Nearly six generations of men 
have lived and toiled and 'died since it began. Much of 
their work has perished with them. The only enduring 
fruit is in the souls that have been trained here for the 
better life beyond the grave, and the influence for good 
which they have left behind. 



i O E M. . 



POEM. 



BY THE HON. HENRY CHAPIN, OF WOECESTER. 



The real poet, when he strikes the lyre, 
Lights up the gleam of ever-burning fire, 
Clothes with sweet music every rippling rill, 
With magic grandeur every mount and hill : 
While the mere rhymer, playing with his pen, 
Makes jingling nonsense every now and then ; 
Looks round in vain the poet's field to glean. 
Then settles back and starts the old machine. 



The Doctor knew it, when he sent me word. 

If I came here, I surely must be heard, 

And heard in rhyme — such was the strange command, 

Writ down- in ink in that prculinr hand. 

So, reading onward in a dumb surprise. 

Scarcely believing I could trust my eyes, 

I struck the vein, which, with a sort of joy. 

Cheered school-day moments of an orphan boy. 



Be startled not, for musing on the past, 
A pleasing radiance o'er the scene is cast; 
It hinteth thus, and giveth sweet relief; 
The rhyming fits, though violent were brief; 
As little streamlets, gatiiered in a pond. 
Stopped by a dam, and not one spring beyond. 
May froth and foam, upon some warm March day, 
Just raise the gate, and quick thcv rush away. 

6 



42 POEM. 

It chanced, of late, when stars their vigils kept, 
And tired with toil, I laid me down and slept, 
Strange forms in dreams came dancing round my bed, 
And queer-wrought fancies flitted through my head : 
The years rolled backward ; on each vale and hill 
The forest stretched in quiet silence still ; 
And dusky forms, all in their strange attires, 
Roamed o'er the lands since peopled by our sires. 



No teeming fields with crops of living green. 
No cultured homes of happiness were seen; 
No busy mills to grind the gathered grain. 
Or cut the monarch of the grove in twain ; 
No traveled way, no nicely graded street, 
No wayside inn, the weary guest to greet ! 
Look where you would, you saw no culture there : 
The forest reigned unbroken everywhere. 



The rivers flowed unhindered to the sea ; 
Beast, fish, and fowl, were radiant and free ; 
They saw the rising and the setting sun, 
But saw no Yankee with his hook and gun ; 
The Nipmuck hunter roamed the forest wide, 
The lord and master of his dusky bride ; 
And dark-hued children, in a motley throng. 
Learned the first lessons of their young war-song. 



I looked again. The Anglo-Saxon came, 
Scheming and wise, and always just the same; 
I saw him, as with solemn steps and slow. 
He trod this soil two hundred years ago ; 
And looked about him with a conscious pride, 
That he had landed — thanks to wind and tide — 
Where, free to worship, and .as free to trade. 
He'd pitched his tent where money could be made. 



I saw the Indian, stern and stately stand, 
To fix the price of this — his own fair land, 
And coolly sell his birthright then and there. 
For fifteen pounds, at least full eight miles square ; 
While Quinshepauge, so musical in name, 
Is blotted out to meet some English claim ; 
The wild, sweet music 'mong the hills and trees. 
Is heard no longer on the summer breeze. 



POEM. 43 

The mighty red men, from that fatal day, 
Like morning snovvflukes seemed to melt away; 
Jealous and cruel through the waning years. 
The dreaded phantoms of our childish fears ; 
Till at this hour, the remnant of the race. 
With quiet step, and sad and dreamy face, 
Are poor and humble, where they reigned before. 
And wander lazily from door to door. 



The sturdy veterans of the olden time. 

Of stern resolve, and purposes sincere. 
Whose names were never made to sing in rhyme. 

Whom children's children honor and revere. 
Come in my dreams as puritan as when, 

Building their cabins on the forest plains, 
They worked and prayed among the sons of men. 

In summer sunshine, or in wintry rains. 



We read the names we've always known. 

And with a sort of pleasure, 
We claim them, as we claim our own. 

Although we change the measure ; 
I'd read the list, if there was time. 

Of names there written in it, 
But they would make such awful rhyme, 

I tremble to bejrin it. 



We read, that Col. William Crowne, 

Who was the first recorder, 
Who has the records written down 

So nicely and in order, 
Could just the right credentials bring. 

At Say and Seal's suggestion, 
To stand and plead before the king. 

Upon the Charter question. 



We read the records of the town. 

Which tell its honest story. 
Each page ablaze, as we come down. 

As with a sort of glory- 
That brave men trod the soil we tread. 

Is clear as demonstration. 
The fathers of the noble dead. 

Who've saved this struggling nation. 



44 POEM. 



They fought wild beasts, subdued the soil, 

And found the treasures in it; 
They learned the blest results of toil, 

And hardly lost a minute. 
No eight-hour prophet beat the drum, 

To set the world half crazy, 
Preaching a kind of kingdom come — 

A premium to the lazy. 



They cleared the forest, ploughed the field, 

They built the church for meeting ; 
And when Job Tiler would n't yield, 

They sent the rebel greeting ; 
While Job defied official noise, 

And scorned the fearful warning. 
As impudent as singing boys 

Who "won't go home till morning;" 



Till he who dared to speak so plain 

Of meeting-house and preaching, 
Found that he struggled all in vain 

'Gainst puritanic teaching ; 
Denounced in proper terms at last. 

The way he had conducted. 
Obtained forgiveness for the past. 

And thus was reconstructed. 



The fathers thought they understood 

The way to deal with sinners, 
And always did the best they could. 

In taming the beginners : 
They trusted in the living God, 

And had large faith in preaching; 
But never wholly spared the rod. 

Nor its benignant teaching. 



They took fast hold of the decrees, 

And battled stout and hearty ; 
They never trembled in their knees, 

Whate'er their sect or paity ; 
They scaled the mountain-tops of thought, 

And faced the rolling thunder, 
Men who were never sold nor bought. 

Who would n't stand from under. 



POEM. 

What cheered those hardy pioneers, 

That band of friends and brothers, 
In the dark forest calmed the fears 

Of sisters and of mothers ; 
Who, self-devoted and sincere, 

All calmly did their duty, 
To help to found a township here, 

In freedom, thrift and beauty ■? 

In faith and hope, the cherished few- 
Just struggled on together, 

And builded better than they knew, 
In spite of wind and weather ; 

They float along the stream of time, 
The banks all gray and hoary. 

And need no word of prose or rhyme, 
To tell their simple story. 



I dreamed again, or seemed to dream, 

Of which I sometimes doubt, 
That by the light of the moon's beam. 

Few honest folks about, — 
I met hard by an aged maq, 

Of sturdy look and form, 
Who never hid himself, nor ran. 

In danger or in storm. 



He stopped, and leaning on his cane. 

With white and flowing hair. 
And coat which in King Charles's reign, 

The fathers used to wear; 
He seemed a man of days gone by 

Beneath the British yoke ; 
He looked me squarely in the eye. 

And these the words he spoke : — 



'' If I can read your name and race, 

Your ancestor Josiah, 
On what is called the Doggett place, 

Once burned the household fire ; 
Beloved and honored, long and late, 

He saw his fame increase, — 
Selectman, Captain, Delegate, 

And Justice of the Peace. 



45 



46 POEM. 

" 'Tis fortunate to meet with one 

Who 's numbered with the flock, 
Who proudly claims to be a son 

Of the old Mendon stocR ; 
And it must be an easy task 

For one like you to bear, 
To answer questions which I ask 

About the eight miles square. 



I see some old familiar look. 

As I attempt to rally. 
The waters in the running brook, 

The hillside and the valley ; 
But such a lot of fence, and wall, 

Such lines of separation 
Confound me so, I can't recall 

The old-time occupation. 



How queerly ladies dress to-day, 

The bonnets all are going ; 
How noiselessly they fade away, 

While waterfalls are growing ; 
And hoop skirts sort of stay and go, 

'Twill do to wear no others ; 
Oh, if our girls had figured so, 

How 'twould have shocked their motners. 



" The boys seem old, whom I have seen. 

Considering their knowledge ; 
To see them one would think they 'd been 

In Congress or in College : 
Their coats, and boots and shoes and hats. 

More costly than adorning, 
Their fathers must be blind as bats, 

Not to observe the warning. 



I hear of oil and fancy stocks, 

And second-sight physicians, 
Who look one through, from hat to socks. 

And tell his whole conditions ; 
They order pills and powders, too, 

All ready just in season, 
To guarantee a cure for you, 

With neither sense nor reason. 



POEM. 

I ask you, as a piece of news. 

Whence comes this smell of leather, 
Which makes one dream of boots and shoes, 

At least in sultry weather"? 
What means that thick and motley throng 

Of every name and nation, 
I noticed as I passed along, 

Down near that Boot-shop station ? 



Why are there, but a few miles north. 

Such monstrous piles of bonnets, 
Wliere bright-eyed damsels sally forth 

To tempt a lover's sonnets *? 
''T is fearful as the rebel raids. 

Takes courage to go by it, 
Yet lose those bonnets and those maids, 

Still worse would be the quiet. 



" Pray tell me how that little stream. 

Which was n't worth the naming, 
Now glitters with so bright a gleam 

From sundrj' forges flaming : 
What mean those lights among the hills, 

Like stars each night illuming ? 
Why run by steam those cotton mills, 

The wood and coal consuming ? 



Explain to me tlie mystery 

Which marks the southern quarter. 
The mills, and cars, and tracks I see. 

Where once was only water ; 
Where once the birds among the trees 

In solitude were singing, 
Are heard the oells on every breeze, 

Their busy orders ringing. 



What means that low and rumbling sound. 

Just over by the river. 
Which seems to shake the solid ground, 

And put one in a quiver? 
I saw a train a half-mile strong. 

Which filled my soul with wonder. 
An iron horse dragged it along. 

And puffing smoke like thunder ! 



47 



48 POEM. 



I never saw so queer a thing, 

As down among the bridges, 
The fiery trains, with what they bring, 

Come on those gravel ridges ; 
When hurrying up with all their might, 

From inland and from ocean. 
They look to me, both day and night, 

Like fighting cocks in motion. 



Now if you once will condescend 

These various points to christen, 
My questionings shall have an end, 

While quietly I listen ; 
I knew where once was eight miles square, 

I knew the Mendon people, 
While now there meets me everywhere 

Some meeting-house or steeple. 



You call it Milford over there ? 

And Upton over yonder ? 
North Dridge and Uxbridge ? I declare ! 

Old Mendon 's rent asunder; 
For Blackstonc, growing discontent. 

Began the same old story, 
Last of the wayward sisters went 

And left her in her glory. 



" Shorn of her strength at every turn, 

First one side, then another, 
'T is time the parricides should learn. 

They 've helped to slay their mother ; 
She 's learned to drink the bitter cup, 

All flavored with desertion ; 
She 's had an awful cutting up, — 

The victim of coercion. 



" Let Milford boast of boots and shoes. 

Of choicest kinds of leather ; 
And Upton girls grow rich as Jews, 

On bonnet, band and feather ; 
Northbridge and Uxbridge thrive and grow. 

On cotton, steam, and water ; 
While Blackstone spreads her branches so. 

Though she 's the youngest daughter ! 



POEM. 

Old Mendon yet shall raise her head ; 

She is not dead but sleepeth ; 
She yet remains the old homestead, 

The fathers' dust she keepeth ; 
She hath her share of home-made joys, 

The choicest soil she tilleth ; 
This day she welcomes home her boys. 

The fatted calf she killeth. 



"The waters murmur in the brooks, 

The fields are sweet with clover ; 
How bright this loving mother looks, 

As this day's work is over ! 
Around us earthly angels here 

Their choicest gifts are bringing ; 
Above us, sweet, and soft, and clear. 

The spirit choirs are singing. 



" The voices of the buried past 

Here chant their sweetest numbers, 
Their loving echoes here shall last, 

To soothe our quiet slumbers ; 
And life, with all its hopes and fears. 

Shall brighter be and clearer. 
As on the rolling tide of years. 

Heaven comes to all the nearer." 



He ceased his strain. No more he sang ; 

But after he had started, 
His farewell like a trumpet rang. 

And thrilled as he departed : 
" Toil on for honor, power, or pelf, 

There 's need enough of growing ; 
But make your other rhymes yourself, 

'Tis time that I was going. 



" If on the fifteenth day of May, 

I 'm at the celebration, 
I '11 tell you on that festal day, 

My name, and age, and station ; 
But if, perchance, I am not there, 

Whate'er the wind or weather, 
Just read these lines, and we will share 

The praise or blame together." 



49 



50 POEM. 

One simple thought, which comes not now of dreaming, 

Fills every heart ; 
One simple word, this Festival beseeming, 

Before we part : 
The men, who met us with their kindly greetings, 

In days of yore. 
Are gone, and at our friendly meetings 

Are seen no more. 



We '11 read their histoiy, name, and station, 

In words that burn, 
As, filled with heartfelt admiration, 

Each page we turn ; 
We '11 fancy as we read, that nobler mortals 

Than one now meets, 
Once passed benignly through these earthly portals. 

And walked these streets. 



The friends and neighbors we have loved so dearly 

In later days. 
On whom the light of memory sheds so clearly 

Its kindling rays. 
Seem with us now, as on these honored places 

We look with pride. 
While they, with their familiar forms and faces, 

Seem by our side. 



Prince, Russell, Eawson, Wood and Cook, and others ; 

Hayward and Green, 
Hastings and Davenport, like friends and brothers. 

So often seen ; 
Taft, Gaskell, Allen, Stone, and George, and Mowry, 

Aldrich and Thayer, 
Bates, Adams, Thurber, in his honest glory. 

With fame so fair. 



That noble brother of our friend, the speaker. 

Whose spirit burned 
With brighter lustre as his frame grew weaker. 

And home he turned ; 
His body in the quiet churchyard sleeping. 

His soul so clear. 
While we this happy Festival are keeping, 

Seems listening here. 



POEM. 61 



Men of the days gone by, the starry token 

Adorns each name ; 
The worthy tribute, all too long unspoken, 

Ye well may claim : 
Immortal now, for on the glowing pages 

Of this bright day. 
Shall shine your memories, for future ages, 

With purest ray. 



It stirs the blood, it sets the pulses leaping. 

Say what we will. 
To feel that friends, for whom we yet are weeping, 

Are with us still ; 
To feel their warm and loving presence ever, 

In scenes like this. 
To know that they forget the feeling never, 

Of social bliss. 



We hear their human voices hero no longer, — 

Their forms are gone ; 
But ah ! the feeling in our hearts grows stronger, 
As time rolls on. 



The hour may come when other souls may listen, 

And think us true; 
When tears in other eyes may glisten 

Like morning dew : 
Enough for us if children's children reading 

Names we call ours, 
Shall strew our tombs, our faults and sins unheeding, 

With sweetest flowers. 



4^ U A N 1 h> . 



TOASTS. 



At the close of the delivery of the poem, Henry A. Aldrich, Toast- 
Master, tn behalf of the Committee of Arrangements, presented the 
following sentiments: 

1. The day we celebrate, and its moral lessons. 

Eesponse by Rev. Adin Ballon, of (Hopedale), Milford: 

Mr. President and Friends : 

We have all reiterated our mutual congratulations on the auspicious circum- 
stances under which so many thousands of people have thronged this ancient 
vicinage, to celebrate the two hundredth anniversary of its incorporation. Never 
before were such multitudes congregated on this hill, and never before were better 
moral lessons suggested to reflecting and receptive minds by a civic celebration. 
These crowding hosts are of the sixth and seventh generations from the original 
Mendon hive. Swarm after swarm went out in all directions, to multiply fami- 
lies, neighborhoods, and corporate communities. To-day, their representatives 
cluster en masse in this maternal parish, where two centuries ago a brave handful 
of ancestors took up their abode in the wilderness, to sow in tears the seed of that 
prosperity which we are now reaping with joy. 

The able and eloquent orator of the occasion has sketched with masterly hand 
the history of this settlement and its diffiusive progress, down almost to the 
memory of the present generation. His performance is worthy of a talented son 
" to the manor born." The ingenious poet, too, has amused and instructed us 
with his admirable contribution to the entertainments of the day. So what haS 
been sketched of the olden past, and what we know of more recent times, can 
hardly fail to afford us ample moral lessons to treasure up and improve. 

We have seen that the parental pioneers of Mendon were of the old Puritan 
stock and stamp. They came hither, not a godless set of reckless adventurers, in 
quest of plunder, gain, and carnal pleasure, but a religious people. They 
acknowledged and worshipped Jehovah. They trusted in his providence. They 
had faith in the testimonies of divine revelation. They reverenced Cliristianity 
and its institutions according to their highest light. They built at the outset a 



54 TOASTS. 

sanctuary of religious service in the midst of their rude homes, and devoted their 
substance liberally to the maintenance of sacred instruction, ordinances and insti- 
tutions. Was it not well for them, and well for their descendants, that they did 
so ? Would it not be well for us all, whatever our alleged greater light, to be as 
conscientious, as religious, as devoted, as they ? Is not here a wholesome moral 
lesson for us ? 

But we are reminded that they were quite human, — some of them intensely so, 
— even the saints, as well as the interloping sinners whom they strove to shut out. 
Is this strange 1 Mankind have always been human. The chosen twelve were 
not super-human. Most of our angels in flesh and blood are the creatures of 
poets and novelists. And the angels of God, even, are said, in the sacred book, 
to have been charged by him with folly. We are therefore admonished to expect 
more or less of imperfection in the best of human associations. What if there 
was a Job Tiler here in times of yore ? What if there were turbulent dissenters, 
and heretics, and wayward free-thinkers ? Such seem to have been always indi- 
genous to the soil of this region. They are not yet extinct. Well, as an offset 
there was plenty of liberty, religious as well as civil and social. Mendon was 
never much priest-ridden, nor churched. The tide was often strong the other 
way. The old Parish has now its fifteenth pastor. I happened to be the eighth 
in the line of descent. Some of them were certainly eminent for talents and 
acquirements, both as ministers and men ; but none of them ever suffered much 
from idolatrous deference, a fat salary, or high living. This was all right; well 
for them, well for religion, and well for the people. No great good ever came 
from worshipping or pampering the clergy. Happily they have generally escaped 
such ensnarements in tiiis quarter, and the danger is probably remote in the 
future. And what of all this ? What is our moral lesson ? Work for noble 
ends. Work with the best available materials. Build up society. But expect 
human nature to be human nature in some of its evil, as well as its good phases. 
Stand up for liberty, civil, religious, and even irreligious, rather than tyranny 
or oppression in its most saintly guise. But do not forget that all abuses of 
liberty are hateful and pernicious to human welfare. Thei-e is no more in licen- 
tiousness for enlightened minds to love, than in superstition. We must go for 
religion without superstition, and liberty without licentiousness. 

The founders of Mendon and its offs]n-ing municipalities were an enterprising, 
industrious, frugal and heroic people. Wliat must have been their privations, 
toils, hardships, perils, and sufferings, in subduing this once howling wilderness, 
now a cultivated, populous and wealthy section of the Commonwealth. In vain 
we stretch our imaginations to conceive the reality. Scarcely had they planted 
themselves here when the Indian war-whoop resounded in their borders, and their 
entire settlement was swept away by the tomahawk, scalping knift;, and firebrand. 
Some perished by savage massacre, and the majority fled in poverty to the eastern 
towns whence they had emigrated. But they returned again, wlien the v/ar was 
over, and resumed their arduous undertaking. What they did and suffered we 
can never estimate. The ashes and cinders of their devastated homes are under 
our feet, commingled forever with the soil. Their graves, marked and unmarked, 
are round about us. And the fruits of their self-sacrifice, persistent labors, and 
hard-earned success, have become the inheritance of a highly favored posteri- 
ty. What pioneers ! How many rough places they made smooth ! What 
foundations they laid for after generations, in things physical, intellectual, 



TOASTS. 



55 



moral, civil, aud social ! Shall they be forgotteu ? Shall their works and sutt'er- 
ings pass unappreciated into ungrateful oblivion"? God forbid! What, then, is 
another moral lesson of this day's celebration. Gratitude to the most high ; 
honor to the memory of the illustrious departed ; and strong resolves to do some- 
thing worthy of such an ancestry and such a transmitted legacy. Hereof let 
us fail not. What abundant means of usefulness and enjoyment have they 
bequeathed to us 1 And is there not a future for us to bless as they have blessed 
usl Have we not our work also to do, whereof posterity may make some account 
at another centennial or bi-centennial celebration ? We have not their work to 
repeat. We cannot move in their old ruts. Progress is onward and upward. 
Railroads, and steam horses, and lightning trains, and electric telegraphs, are 
ours to work with. What will we do for posterity, — for the present and future 
generations ? What will we do to elevate and regenerate society ? What to 
fill the earth with useful, holy knowledge, with wisdom, virtue, order, peace 1 
What to fulfill the ancient sacred prophecies of universal brotherhood, harmony, 
and bliss ? Let us be ashamed to do less for our descendants than our pro- 
genitors have done for us. 

But let me not be tedious. Other lips arc ready to open with more interesting 
speech. I will forbear to advert to the numerous topics which are fraught with 
moral suggestions in the wide range of this commemorative occasion. Let it 
suffice that I exhort you all to select and study them for yourselves, when the 
excitement of our present proceedings and festivities shall have passed away . 
Revolve the history of the two centuries during which this town has had a corpo- 
rate existence. Mark the onward course of men, things, and events. Honor all 
the excellencies which brighten the record, and cherish their memory for imita- 
tion. Note also the defects, frailties, errors, follies and sins which tell you how 
imperfect your progenitors were ; not to magnify them, not to be uncharitable in 
denouncing them, and above all not to justify or excuse your own short-comings. 
Be just, be generous, be grateful, and be faithful to your greater light, ability and 
opportunity. Thus let us all endeavor to make a histoiy for ourselves and times, 
worthy of our augmented responsibility; that the now unborn celebrators of the 
next centennary on this venerable hill, may have abundant reason to hallow our 
memories long after the last survivor of us shall have been welcomed by God and 
our revered ancestors to the mansions of imniortality. 

2. 1719; in answer to the petition for a new town, comprising a portion of 
Mendon, it is ordered that the prayer of the petitioners be granted, and that the 
name of the town be Westham, their brethren, the Deputies, consenting thereto. 
Tiie Deputies consent, only that the name be Bellingham. 

3. The town of (Jxhridr/e, the daughter of Mendon. Her history since her 
majority is industry, economy, good neighborhood, and Christian virtue ; gone 
out, as she has, from umder the maternal wing, may she not disgrace her parent 
by returning a prodigal, to beg the husks cast from her parent's bountiful 
table. 

llesponcled to by Francis Deane, Esq., of Uxbridge. 

Mr. President: In behalf of the citizens of the town of Uxbridge, the home 



56 



TOASTS. 



of my adoption, I thank you for the complimentary sentiment which has now 
been read. And I will say a few words in response. The town was incorporated 
by an act of the General Court, on the twenty-seventh day of June, in the year 
1727, and is consequently one hundred and forty years old the succeeding month. 
It was taken from the westerly portion of Mendon, and included in her limits, 
substantially what is embraced in its present territory, and the principal part of 
that which is now Northbridge. Some inconsiderable poi'tion of territory has 
since been acquired from other towns, on her northwest border. 

In the year 1772, the "North End," so called, was incorporated into a District, 
by the name of Northbridge, which, on the twenty-third day of March, 1786, 
became a town by a general law. So that Uxbridge alone, of the numerous 
children that encompass the parent town, is able to introduce to your notice a 
grandchild. And that one, too, of much promise, well nigh one hundred years 
old. She is present to-day in force, and will answer for herself. 

And here, Mr. President, allow me also to introduce to your notice an aged and 
respected citizen of our town, (Mr. Independence Whipple), about ninety years of 
age, as the oldest man present. And I can affirm with safety that he is the only 
man present that has seen General Washington. He remains as the connecting 
link between the Revolutionary fathers and the generation of to-day. 

At the first town meeting, held on the twenty-fifth day of July, 1727, "It was 
voted that the annual town meetings be held on the first 'Wednesday of March, 
for choice of officers." This arrangement, in fixing a different day for holding 
their annual town meetings, from that of other towns of the family, was made to 
facilitate social intercourse between them, and was continued for over one hun- 
dred and twenty-five years. 

The first work of the town, in the true spirit of the times, was to provide a 
house to worship God in. Accordingly on the eighth day of July, 1728, when 
the building materials had been collected, on the ground where now stands the 
third house of worship, " It was voted also at said meeting that there be fifteen 
gallons of Good Rum provided for y^ raising ye meeting-house." And you may 
be assured that all Mendon were invited to the raising. 

Again, on the fifteenth day of August, 1728, when the county of Worcester was 
about to be organized, it was " Voted at said meeting about Worcester's being a 
shire town, That unless Mendon be made a Shire Town as well as Worcester, to 
hold half of y'= County Courts att. They had rather remain as now, in the County 
of Suffolk." 

I have referred to a few of these ancient records, as tending to show the friendly 
feeling that pervaded the inhabitants of these towns in olden times, and that the 
separation of these two towns was one of acknowledged expediency and necessity, 
and tliat it was unattended with that bitterness of feeling, which so frequently 
characterize political divisions of this character. 

The deprivations incident to new settlements, inured our fathers to many hard- 
ships, and trained them to habits of industry and economy now almost forgotten. 
But animated by the persevering spirit of the Pviritan, the primitive forests early 
fell before his sturdy blows. The earth was made to contribute to civilized life. 
Her territory was formed into a network of roads. Her beautiful rivers, — the 
" West river," the " Mumford's river," and that classic river, the " Blackstone," 
— were made to speed the spindle and the loom, and contribute largely to her 
prosperity. Nor were the more modern improvements entirely neglected. The 



TOASTS. 57 

famous " Blackstone Canal " was constructed, and when we looked upon our 
fleet of boats as they moved sluggislily along through their narrow bed, we 
imagined we were a "seaport town." But the progressive spirit of the age laid 
its iron rails on its banks, where tiie iron horse now speeds his course with a 
velocity that has left the old " canal " in the shade, and numbered it with the 
things that were. 

Though our town contains less population and less wealth than some of her 
younger sisters, she has made commendable progress, and contains the elements 
of increasing prosperity. She sustains four churches, fourteen public schools, 
and several charitable and philantliropic institutions. She has a population of 
three thousand souls, and an aggregate wealth of two millions of dollars. 

See, sir, there she is, surrounded by her beautiful scenery, inviting all to pleas- 
ant homes. Such is the report of progress we make to-day, and such is her 
promise of the future. 

The occasion suggests to the mind the wonderful changes time has wrought in 
the land, and the contrast between civilized and savage life. In imagination we 
see the pioneer settler ascend yonder western hills, with his title deed in hand, to 
possess his newly acquired estates. He meets the aged sachem, at his wigwam 
door, dejected, suspicious, timid. He recites to him those mysterious words, 
" Know all men by these presents," written upon the scrawl. They are the 
" Mene Tekel" of the Indian. He rejilies. Is not this my home? Have not 
my people possessed these lands for untold ages ? And these forests, were they 
not his hunting grounds 1 And these beautiful rivers, that meander in the 
meadows at our feet, were they not his fishing grounds 1 And are they not 
minel No, sir! no. You have suffered these broad acres to run to waste. You 
have done nothing to raise your fellow-man into a higher life. You have failed to 
fulfill the conditions of inheritance, and you have lost. It is with a melancholy 
interest that we see this once renowned nation of the tomahawk, savage though 
it be, recede before civilization, to its final extinction. His history is unwritten. 
His deeds of exploit u'nhonored. His virtues as well as his vices unrecorded, 
save j.n that cruel warfare waged for self-preservation. 

In conclusion, I will offer a responsive sentiment. All honor to the ancient 
town of Mendon. Though severed asunder by successive acts of legislation, she 
now forms a bright constellation of seven municipalities, bound together by a 
common interest, mutual friendships and social ties. 

4. The third branch of the family tree ; one hundred and thirty-two years of 
age : Upton. 

liesponded to by Hon. E. B. Stoddard, of Worcester. 

Mr. President : 

The sons of Upton have requested me to say a few words in their name upon 
this interesting occasion. 

Thanking you for the kind remembrance of your daughter, I feel that she has 
done her duty here to-day, in being able to produce a son who has delighted you 
all with his poetrv, and I am sure, before I close my remarks, you will be con- 

8 



58 



TOASTS. 



vinced that the poetry which Upton produces is much more charming than her 
sober prose. 

The record shows that the territory of Upton once constituted a part of 
Mendon. I feel, therefore, that I can claim sufficient relationship with the inhab- 
itants of Mendon to represent my fellow townsmen at this time. 

In reference to the past and present sons and daughters of Upton, I claim for 
them an intelligence and moral worth, equal to that which distinguishes the popu- 
lation of other parts of Worcester County. 

I need only name the Woods, the Chapins, the Tafts, the Nelsons, the Fiskes, 
the Warrens, and the Knowltons, and you will recognize a class of men whose 
works and characters have produced " a golden chain, whose links will grow 
stronger and brighter as their descendants come upon the stage of action." 

The principles of industry and economy, of civil and religious liberty, which 
our ancestors have planted upon your borders, appear to-day in the honest faces 
of their descendants, who return to show reverence and love for their native soil. 

What man or woman here does not remember the Rev. Benjamin Wood of 
Upton, — one of the most distinguished and beloved divines of this county, — a 
man whose very countenance was full of the " inspiration of faith, hope, and 
charity." I remember him as he appeared when he delivered the centennial 
address for the town of Upton thirty-two years ago. That address, like yours 
Mr. Orator, to-day, was earnest, eloquent and touching; it was full of that 
inspiration which makes the heart beat quicker, as we recall the early associations 
o? onr homes. I allude to Mr. Wood, because so many of us early learned 
to revere his character and power. 

The sons of this part of Worcester County have reason to remember and love 
their early homes and native soil. 

When we contemplate the broad contrast between the privations and sufferings 
of the early settlers, of the simple habits of our fathers and mothers, and the 
benefits and blessings evei-ywhere enjoyed by their descendants, thankfulness and 
gratitude should fill our hearts. 

We have come together to mingle our feelings and rekindle our affections at 
the family altar. The scenes and friends of our childhood return, and whose 
heart is not made better, whose arm will not be made stronger as he gives this 
day to the hallowed associations of the past ? 

My belief is, that the boy, who has spent his earliest days in tliis part of the 
county, whether he has gone to the sunny South or to the far West, so long as 
he lives, will cherish among the first recollections of his heart, what he remembers 
of the friends of his early days, and the circumstances of his boyhood. 

Let us here drop the tear of affection and friendship to the memory of the 
loved ones who have gone before us, and leave this place stimulated with the firm 
resolve that we will devote our powers to promote and advance the best interests 
of the community, wherever our lot may be cast. 

5. Our only grandchild : Northbridge. The credit of the f^imily is safe in her 
keeping. 

Responded to by the Eev. Lewis F. Clark. 

I regret, Mr. President, that some other one has not been called upon to re- 



TOASTS. 



59 



spond to this sentiment. It is known to you that I am not a native of North- 
bridge, nor of either of the towns claiming a part of the old " ten miles square." 
I cannot but feel that those who can speak of this as their birth-place are pecu- 
liarly fortunate, to-day. But though I am not "native to the manor born," I 
have been for twenty-five years an adopted citizen of Northbridge, and feel a deep 
interest, not only in every thing affecting the welfare of that town, but of every 
other portion of the old town of Mendon. 

Northbridge, as you have intimated in the sentiment just read, is to be regarded 
as the granddaugliter, and the only one sustaining that relation — it having been 
formerly a part of Uxbridge. It was incorpoj.-ated July 14, 1772, in compliance 
with a petition presented to the Genei-al Court, headed by Colonel John Spring, 
grandfather of Rev. Dr. Spring, of New York. The town contained, at that 
time, seventy-one fiimilies and a population of about four hundred. Measures 
were soon taken for erecting a house of worship, but on account of delay, occa- 
sioned by difference of opinion as to location, it was not completed until the close 
of 1774. The "pew spots" were sold in February, 177.5, but a permanent 
pastor was not secured until some years later. As the war of the Revolution was 
coming on, the people labored under great embarrassments in their efforts to sus- 
tain gospel institutions. But though tiie burdens pressed heavily upon them, 
they persevered, never shrinking from duty as Christians or patriots. Most of 
the early votes of the town have reference either to the interests of religion or to 
the impending national struggle. 

In the very able and interesting address to which we have listened to-day, al- 
lusion was made to some of the votes passed by Mendon, just before hostilities 
commenced, indicating the spirit that pervaded the people. Votes of a similar 
character may be found in the old town records of Northbridge, and if I mistake 
not, in those of the other towns represented here to-day. Eight months previous 
to the battle of Lexington, our town chose a committee " to correspond with com- 
mittees of other towns concerning public affairs." At the same time it was voted 
" to provide a town stock of ammunition, viz : one barrel of powder, and lead 
and flints answerable to it, and that every man be supplied with arms and ammu- 
nition," thus showing that the people were expecting the conflict and that they 
intended to be prepared to meet it. At a town meeting held in June, 1776, it 
was voted " to support the Continental Congress with our lives and fortunes, if 
they should declare the United American Colonies independent of Great Britain." 
From 1775 to 1781 a large part of the business transacted at the town meetings 
had reference to the war. More than fifty men were furnished for a longer or 
shorter term of service, and, among these one chaplain. Rev. Dr. Samuel Spring, 
then a yonng man just entering the ministry, afterwards settled in Newburyport. 
He accompanied the disastrous expedition to Canada under Arnold. Northbridge 
men were in the service in the vicinity of Boston, in Rhode Island, at Ticon- 
deroga, at Saratoga, at different points on the Hudson, in New Jersey and other 
parts of the country. 

Much of the spirit of '76 was also manifested l)y the jieople of our town in our 
recent National struggle. Nine days after the fall of Fort Sumter a meeting of 
citizens was held, at which preliminary steps were taken for organizing a military 
company for the war. This company was organized and went into camp at 
Worcester, in June, as a part of the fifteenth Massachusetts regiment, a regiment 
that made for itself a noble record. The men from our town also rendered good 



60 TOASTS. 

service in other portions of the army and in the navy. In most of the great 
battles east of the Alleghanies we were represented, and the sacrifice of life tells 
how we were represented. Thirty-two of our men laid down their lives for their 
country — twenty of these dying in battle or from wounds received in battle. 

In the matter of education as well as attachment to country, Northbridge has 
aimed not to fall behind the neighboring towns. In the amount last year appro- 
priated to common schools, in proportion to the taxable property of the town, it 
ranked as the second in the state and the first in Worcester County. This inter- 
est in education may be due, in part, to the influence of Kev. Dr. Crane, the first 
minister of the town, who was settled in 1783, and labored there for nearly half 
% century. We have never had any prominent literary institution of which to 
boast, and yet this pastor's house was an institution of no mean character. For 
many years he was accustomed to receive young men into his family and fit them 
for college, or prepare them for the work of teaching. Some who have occupied 
very prominent positions in their profession received their early classical train- 
ing in that old parsonage. Among these were that distinguished jurist, Hon- 
orable Theron Metcalf, of Boston; Professor Alexander M. Fisher, of Yale 
College, who was lost at sea in 1822 * ; John B. Brown, M. D., of Boston ; Rev. 
Dr. Spring, of New York, and his brother, Ecv. Dr. Samuel Spring, of East 
Hartford, Ct. ; the late Rev. Dr. Calvin Park, professor in Brown University; 
Rev. Dr. Hawes, of Hartford, and the late Rev. Willard Preston, D. D., of 
Savannah, Ga. Dr. Crane was not only an able and faithful preacher, but a 
thorough instructor. It was a common remark tliat his pupils were never rejected 
on their application for admission to college. 

Did time permit I might speak of the material interests of the town — of the 
agency of one man, the late Colonel Paul Whiting, in laying the foundation of a 
manufacturing property, now represented by a cotton business, giving employment 
to some six hundred persons, and a machine shop in which nearly five hundred 
men are employed. But I am occupying more than my share of the time on 
this occasion. Please accept, Mr. President, our thanks for your invitation to 
join you in this celebration, and for the kind manner in which you have noticed 
" the granddaughter " in the sentiment to which you have called upon me to 
respond. 

6. The old South Parish : at the age of nearly one hundred years, regenerated 
and christened Blackstone in 184.5, now, in the comeliness and fair proportions of 
youth, comes back to the old homestead, in company with her elder sisters, and 
greets our common mother, — good old Mendon. 

Responded to by Moses D. Southwick, M. D. 

Mr. Pkesident: Since the incorporation of Blackstone, in 184.5, her liistory 
is brief, and well known to many in this audience. But for more than a century 
and a half after the first settlement within her limits, she formed a component 
part of Mendon. As the first inhabitants of Mendon multiplied, and began to 
expand and spread out over the surface of the adjacent country, the beautiful 
streams and rich intervales of Uxbridge and Northbridge, proved more attractive 

* Judge Metcalf and Professor Fisher were both natives of Franklin, Massachusetts. 



TOASTS. 



61 



than the uneven and rocky soil of Wigwam Hill and Dam Swamp. Among the 
first settlers in the territory of Blackstone, we find no emigrants from Mendon, 
except along the course of Mill River. The middle and western portions were 
settled by individuals from many different places. Before the year 1700, Josiah 
Thayer, son of Ferdinando Thayer, settled near where Millins Taft now lives, 
and is believed to have been the first white man who located in the town of Black- 
stone. A son of his was a Major in the army of the Revolution. He was present 
at the obstinate defence of Red Bank, near Philadelphia, and on the last day of 
the fighting, he commanded the troops with distinguished skill and valor. He 
was afterwards promoted to the rank of Colonel and General. He resided in 
Providence, after the war was over. 

Josiah Thayer was followed not long afterward by a Mr. Aldrich and a Mr. 
Cook, who settled in what is now called Mill River Lower Village. These three 
are believed to have been the only emigrants to Blackstone from Mendon at that 
early period. About the same time or soon after, the road was laid out leading 
from the settlement in Mendon to Cumberland, and was called the Rehoboth 
road. Tradition informs us that there was an Indian path where the road was 
located, and passing over Cumberland Hill to Rehoboth, which was incorporated 
a few years before Mendon. This appears to have been the first public highway 
in Blackstone. Not long afterwards the road was laid out from the Coverdale 
place, by the Five Coi-ners, to a point near where the Blackstone town house now 
stands, then turning to the left, passed down to Woonsocket Falls. Another of 
the earliest roads is that which branches from the Rehoboth road, near the house 
of Andrus Wheelock, passes through Quissett, Dam Swamp, over Waterbug Hill, 
to Millville, and there being no bridge across the Blackstone River at that place, 
when it was laid out, it was continued up the east side of the river, by the resi- 
dence of the Holbrooks, to Skull Rock Bridge. This bridge was the first built 
across the Blackstone between Uxbridge Centre and Woonsocket Falls. Another 
of the earliest roads which passes through a corner of Blackstone, is that which 
passes along the head of Nipmug Pond, through Albeeville, over Wigwam Hill, 
turns at the corner by Caleb Taft's blacksmith shop, passes by the house of 
Nathan Fisher, over Skull Rock Bridge, and so on to the Rhode Island line. 
The prolific race of Tafts early settled on this road, or contiguous to it. In- 
deed, at a period almost within the memory of the oldest inhabitant, their resi- 
dences were scattered at irregular intervals from the village of Mendon to Bur- 
rillville. 

The first settlers in the southwest part of Blackstone, are believed to have been 
three men by the name of Darling, — two brothers and an uncle. Benjamin set- 
tled near the Blackstone Poor House. Daniel settled at the top of the Darling 
Hill, near the present residence of Mrs. Holbrook ; and John settled at the Job 
Darling place, so-called, where Mrs. Shaw now lives. They came from Belling- 
ham or Cumberland, were all formers, and left a numerous offspring at their 
deaths. But few of the name, however, now live in this part of the town. 

Not long after the Darlings, Samuel Thompson settled on the west bank of the 
river, where Collins Capron new resides. He is believed to have been the first 
white inhabitant of Blackstone on the west side of the river. He built the first 
dam, and erected a gristmill on the island, which he connected with the west 
shore by a bridge. The bridge east of the island was built not long afterwards 
by the town of Mendon. There is a tradition that the gristmill was chiefly 



62 TOASTS. 

remarkable for the slow rate at which it converted grain into meal. A freshet 
carried away both the gristmill and the bridge. When the mill was lifted from 
its foundation by the swollen waters, and hurried along the rushing stream, a 
bystander remarked that it was never known to go half as fast before. 

About one hundred and thirty or forty years ago, many of the Quakers in 
Salem, being persecuted for their religious tenets and mode of worship, emigrated 
to the south part of Mendon, and settled near the Rhode Island line. The piety 
of that day appears to have been of a more ardent and persistent character than 
that of the present. From the time of the exile of Roger Williams, Rhode Island 
had been a city of refuge for the persecuted of all lands, and doubtless our Salem 
Friends felt safer and more comfortable, to be near the borders of a colony in 
which the consciences of men had a more unlimited scope than in any other part 
of the civilized world. About a century ago, the south part of Mendon was con- 
stituted a parish, embracing substantially the territory now included in the town of 
Blackstone. A small portion of Uxbridge was annexed for religious purposes. 
A meeting-house was built forthwith, in Chestnut Hill, and is now standing in 
tolerably good repair, a fair specimen of the church architecture of the middle of 
the last century. The square pews, the high pulpit, the sounding-board above itj 
and the heavy substantial galleries, still remain precisely as they were placed by 
the hands of the builder. By the help of shingles and paint, and a little aid from 
the glazier, it promises to stand firm and erect for at least another century. 
These will doubtless be furnished by the thrifty and industrious dwellers of 
Chasjnut Hill, many of them the descendants of those who reared its structure. 

The parish immediately called the Rev. Mr. Balch to the ministry, and he was 
settled, and presented with a parsonage and a small farm. Tradition represents 
him to have been a man of fair abilities, but he proved to be an unfaithful shep- 
herd. After a few years he sold his farm, put the money in his pocket, and 
de]mrtcd suddenly for some unknown country. His people's confidence in the 
reliability of the clerical profession, appears to have been greatly shaken, for no 
successor has ever been permanently located. 

The t^outh Parish continued to form a part of Mendon till the year 1845. 
The population had increased to such an extent, principally in the extreme 
southern part, that the town was represented in the General Court by four mem- 
bers, before the amendment of the Constitution. A great majority of the people 
residing in the northern and extreme southern parts, the attendance at town meet- 
ings was effected with much trouble, and the transaction of town business was 
attended with great inconvenience. The division was opposed chiefly in the 
north parish, and by the democratic party, which had controlled the politics of 
the town for many years. Many arguments were advanced against a division, 
among the strongest of which was the following: "That inasmuch as Mendon 
united constituted a large and respectable democratic town, a division would 
create two inferior whig towns." 

Blackstone, in the present century, has greatly increased in population and in 
wealth. More cloth is manufactured in her several villages than in any other 
town in Worcester County. Few towns impose upon themselves a higher rate of 
taxation for the purposes of education. Twelve passenger trains daily, pass 
through her principal villages. By the Providence and Worcester Railroad she 
has direct communication north and south ; and east and west by the Boston, 
Hartford and Erie Railroad. The Blackstone river lends its tremendous and 



TOASTS. 



63 



unwearied forces to the assistance of human labor. But unfortunately the pre- 
ponderating resources of the town are owned and controlled by non-residents. 
The giant powers of her noble river are exhausted in coining money for the resi- 
dents of distant cities. So long as this state of things continues, Blackstone is 
likely to rank as a second or third-rate town. 

Religion and morality, although cherished and fostered to some extent by 
different agencies, are very far from being neglected. They should be as insepa- 
rable as goodness and happiness are in the future state of existence. Six religious 
meetings are regularly and respectably attended every Sabbath, in the various 
parts of the town. They are a blessing to the community. Their object is to 
make folks better. But it is feared that in many instances, faith bears an undue 
proportion to works. 

For the last forty years the temperance lecturer has been abroad with his pledge 
of total abstinence. In Blackstone, the cause has received a powerful impetus 
within the last two years. The foreign population has not yet been reached to 
any great extent. But among the natives, within the memory of those in middle 
age, the consumption of intoxicating drinks has been diminished four-fifths, if not 
nine-tenths. In consequence, disease has been diminished, and the average dura- 
tion of human life much increased. We much more frequently meet an octoge- 
narian now than forty years ago. 

While we are enjoying the festivities of this occasion, and listening to the 
intellectual offerings of the day, wliile we are shaking the friendly hand, and 
holding social communion with our neighbors and acquaintances, the sad thought 
will intrude itself, that before this anniversary again recurs, all this vast assembly 
will have totally disappeared from the face of the earth. Yet, since the secret of 
prolonging life has been partially discovered, I am tempted to prophecy that the 
child now breathes the vital air, who will be present here one hundred years from 
this day. 

7 The Courts of Massachusetts : with an incorruptible bench, and an honest 
and a learned bar, rogues, as well as honest people, will have justice done them. 

8. In memoriam niajorum. The American Antiquarian Society. 

9. The Colonel of the Second Nebraska Regiment at Fort Donelson, — now 
on picket duty beyond the Missouri. 

Responded to by General John M. Thayer, now Senator in Congress 
from Nebraska. 

Mr. President, Ladies and Gentlemen : 

Before I respond directly to the sentiment with which my name has been pre- 
sented, I desire to express to you, in behalf of the citizens of Bellingham, of 
which town it was my lot to be a native, their appreciation of this interesting 
commemoration. Bellingham being a child of Mendon, the people of the former 
earnestly unite with those of the latter, in rendering honor to the memory of its 
founders. They rejoice that you determined to commemorate with becoming ob- 
servances the two hundredth anniversary,of the settlement of your town. 



64 TOASTS. 

Mr. President, you have connected ray name with the region beyond the Mis- 
souri. How strikingly this illustrates the contrast between then and now — be- 
tween two hundred years ago and to-day. Then, Mendon was the outpost of 
civilization. The settlers had their pickets along the banks of the Blackstone. 
But ere long, the westward tide passed the Hudson, topped the Alleghanies, 
crossed the valley of the Mississippi and the Missouri, and to-day the frontier is 
along the shores of the Pacific. We have recently stretched out our arms tow- 
ards the north-west — have taken in Russian America, and our flag will soon kiss 
the breezes that are wafted from the shores of Asia. As the American people have 
a kind of constitutional inclination for expansion, I am strongly inclined to the 
belief that many years will not roll away before we shall embrace within our 
national area the " Dominion of Canada." 

Our fathers, when they settled this goodly town of Mendon, struck out into the 
forest far away from the neighboring settlements. They went armed as they 
cultivated the field, or assembled to worship God. I am reminded that 
within the last ten years I have seen the people on the border of the state from 
which I come, go armed to the field and to the church, to guard against the de- 
scendants of the same wily foe who at times spread terror»among the settlements 
of our fathers in this region. 

It would be an interesting task, if time permitted, to contrast the institutions, 
customs and system of government of the present time with those of the period 
v/hich we are commemorating, to see what progress we have made, to see whether 
we have, m all respects, improved upon them. By contemplating the character 
of tiie people of that day, we may shun their faults and imitate their virtues. 
They werestern and austere men. They did many things which we should hardly 
think of doing now. They administered what they deemed justice with an unre- 
lenting hand. I believe they sometimes took the lives of off'enders upon very 
slight causes. If a distinguished citizen of Salem (Dr. Loring) was not present, 
I might I'ecall the fact that persons in and about that town suffered very severe 
penalties because they were believed to be possessed of the Evil One. And in other 
places "Quakers were publicly whipped while tied to the "cart's tail." 

But, my friends, I will tell you what you would not have seen in those days. 
If a portion of the colonists had rebelled against their government, and, after a 
long and bloody struggle, had been subdued and their leader caged, you would 
not have seen one of the loyal men going down to Richmond to sign the bail 
bond of tiie great criminal of the rebellion. You would not have seen then what 
the loyal people of this nation are compelled to behold to-day, namely : the dis- 
charge of the leader of the rebellion in the sight of Belle Isle and Libby, whose 
walls had witnessed month after month and year after year, the groans and ag- 
onies of our noble boys in blue, whom the fate of war had thrown into their 
hands. No, gentlemen, those who could have rebelled against the rightful au- 
thority of the colonists would have been compelled to sufl^er the just penalties of 
their crimes. Treason then would have been punished. To-day it defies justice 
and goes scot-free, and an administration is tolerated which favors rebels and 
hates loyal men. 

Our fathers were not free from responsibility for the fastening upon this coun- 
try that stupendous national crime of human slavery ; but they and their children 
made hasCe to remove it from their section. It, however, had attained such a hold 
upon the rest of the country, that it required the convulsions of war to shatter its 



TOASTS. 



65 



power. It was the master. But Massachusetts was indoctrinated with the spirit 
of liberty, and was, essentially, anti-slavery. Some thirty years ago an eminent 
citizen of this state, clothed with the authority of the commonwealth, appeared 
in the city of Charleston for the purpose of testing in the United States Court, 
the right claimed there of invading merchant vessels and seizing and imprisoning 
citizens of Massachusetts because they were free men of color, and he was 
obliged to flee the city before the fury of a Charleston mob. To-day, a citizen of 
Massachusetts utters the sentiments of freedom and the doctrine of the equality 
of all men, on " Citadel Green," in that same city of Charleston, and Massachu- 
setts and Samuel Hoar are vindicated in the person of Henry Wilson. 

If our fathers could be conscious of what is transpiring to-day, we may feel as- 
sured they would rejoice with us at the advanced civilization which exists in the 
land where they were the pioneers. They would rejoice with us at the progress 
which has been made over the rude customs and crude arts and undeveloped 
sciences of those times. Above all, would they rejoice that the great curse of 
human slavery is wiped out, and forever, from this land, and that in its stead 
there shall reign universal Law, universal Justice, and universal Freedom ! 

10. The frontier towns of Massachusetts on her western border in the olden 
time : Brookjield, Mendon, and Oxford. 

Responded to by Hon. Ira M. Barton. 

Mr. President : As a native of the town of Oxford, I recognize your right to 
call on me to respond to that sentiment. But I can remain with you only a 
few moments, and instead of a speech, I shall give you in response, a short senti- 
ment, indicating the essential part of what I would say on this occasion. 

The ancient towns of Mendon, Brookfield and Oxford, originally constituted 
the larger part of the Worcester South District, and embraced contiguous terri- 
tory, except that New Sherborn, (now Douglas), was interposed between Mendon 
and Oxford. The history of those three towns, including that of the several 
towns carved out of their original territory, it is obvious would constitute interest- 
ing chapters in the local history of the county of Worcester. Some progress has 
been made in that direction in tlie town of Brookfield. And in Oxford, materials 
for such history have not only been collected, but, to a good extent written out by 
the late lamented Rev. Dr. Bardwell. As to the early sewlement of French 
Huguenots in that town, something has been added to the interesting tract of the 
Rev. Dr. Holmes upon that subject, by the reports of the Council of the Ameri- 
can Antiquarian Society, an institution that is always ready to aid in such 
researches. 

In the case of your town, Sir, the complete historical materials which, I under- 
stand, it has been your recreation from professional labors to collect, with such 
addition as tiie interesting services of tliis day may afford, will leave little more to 
be desired for a most satisfactory history of Mendon. And in conclusion, in the 
presence of the representatives of all the original territory of your ancient town, 
as indicating my estimate of the importance of such history, I give you the follow- 
ing sentiment : 

9 



66 TOASTS. 

The future historian of Mendon : Discovering the liberal co-operation of 
the present, he will receive the. gratitude of all after generations. 

11. The Fanner and Mechanic of Massaciiusetfs ; the one has accomplished 
the feat of making two spears of grass grow where one grew before ; and the 
other has annihilated both time and space, so that, in a trial of speed of four 
thousand miles, across the Atlantic, he distances sunrise by four hours and a 
half. 

Responded to by Dr. Georo-e B. Loring, of Salem. 

Mr. President : At this late hour of the day it is not easy to respond to the 
comprciiensive sentiment which you have just pronounced. The farmers and 
mechanics of Mendon, to say nothing of the great mass of their brethren in 
Massachusetts, have always enjoyed peculiar privileges, and have always acquit- 
ted themselves well. With that skill, which was so remarkable in our early 
history, they selected the fertile lands of this region for their home, and I need 
not assure you and those around me, of the correctness of their judgment, after the 
experience which we have had of the good quality of the soil, under this tent this 
afternoon. That, as mechanics, they builded well, let the substantial old dwell- 
ings of this town testify, — which, after a lapse of two centuries, are but just now 
passing away. 

But not only in the practical labors of life did they acquit themselves well. In 
the earliest period of our history, they insisted on the enjoyment of those rights 
and privileges which have now become a part of the great inheritance of every 
American citizen. We who listened to the stirring and graphic address of a son 
of this town, in your church this morning, cannot soon forget the bold and honor- 
able stand taken by forty farmers of the township of Mendon, when they demand- 
ed and secured the right of voting on public affairs, as against the privileged 
orders of the early colonial days. They secured in their small sphere the rights 
of free and independent citizens, setting an example which all might follow, until 
universal freedom in this country should be secure. Of the mechanics, who can 
ever forget Job Tiler, perhaps ungovernable, and refractory before the magnates 
of his day, but determined to assert his right to his own labor and freewill, by 
refusing to work on the minister's house when ordered so to do by the ecclesias- 
tico-civil authorities of a puritan community? Who can tell what Job Tiler did 
for freedom of speech and religion, by refusing to recognize the authority of the 
church even in material affairs, at a time when all law had an ecclesiastical 
flavor ? 

And when I heard that remarkable resohition, passed by the farmers and 
mechanics of this town, long before the Kevolution, wl.en the fires of freedom 
were kept burning at the hearthstones of the "little democracies" of tliis country 
alone, — the resolution that "all men are created equal," I was more than ever 
filled with wonder and astonishment at the intellectual grasp and free instinct of 
our fathers. That resolution, written uudoubtedly by that intelligent and remark- 
able man, Joseph Dorr, was but the expression of the popular sentiment of 
that day, — a sentiment common to all those who have demanded free suffrage as 
their first right, and who from generation to generation cherished the ballot box, 
the school-house, and the meeting-house, as the pillars of their community. What 



TOASTS. 67 

an illu^ti-iUioii it was of that wise saying of my Lord Bacon, that "in the manage- 
ment of practical aflfiiirs, the wisdom of the wisest man is less reliable than the 
deliberate and concurring judgment of common minds!" How remarkable that 
the Declaration of Independence found expression in a popular assembly held in 
your old church here, long before its great general truths had entered tlie brain 
of Thomas Jefferson, or had been recorded by ids eloquent pen ! Can any man 
wonder at tlie freedom of a people whose farmers and mechanics, in the small 
towns, uttered such sentiments as these, and sent tliem forth as a guide to the 
leading minds of their day, — wiser, in tiieir "deliberate and concurring judg- 
ment," tlian the wisest and greatest ? 

I have listened witl; the highest pleasure, to the historical reminiscences of tliis 
old town and her daughters, which I have heard to-day. I cannot express the 
gratitude which I feel to you, sir, for your kind invitation to be present. For all 
I have seen and heard has tilled me with renewed respect and regard for the 
intelligence of those in whose hands rest the interests of Massachusetts, and who 
have only to follow the example set them by their fathers, to be useful in their 
day and generation. 

The town of Mendon had an honorable record in its early days. Its inhab- 
itants defended manfully their possessions against a savage foe; and when the 
strife for independence came on, they rallied around the cause of their country, 
first in the field and last to leave. So, too, in our own time, have her sons 
written one more honorable record ; and while they have can-ied their intelligence 
into every walk in life, — into the pulpits of our land, into all honest enterprise, — 
they have also shared the trials and sufferings of our hard-fought war for freedom, 
and have written their names in that bright page of our country's history. May 
all prosperity and honor attend her future career, and irradiate that new century 
on which she is just now entering. 

12. The Massachusetts Vohinteer Militia: The history of the past has proved 
tlieir patriotic devotion to freedom ; tiie history of the future will record their 
unflinching faithfulness in its defence. 



1.3. The early settlers of Mendon. This day and ever we would cherish their 
sterling virtues and hold tbeir names in the highest veneration. 



Responded to by Piitn.am VV. Taft, of Worcester. 



Sweet May has come with blossoming buds. 

And the rippling silvery notes 
Are heard, high up in the leafy boughs, 

From the song birds' tufted throats ; 
The robin 's come liack, from wandering far 

In the sunny southland fair. 
And the blue-bird pipes in merry glee. 

As he breathes his mountain air. 



68 TOASTS. 

So, we've turned, with joy, our roving feet, 

From the varied walks of earth. 
To join in this gathering, household band. 

At the place that gave us birth. 
We answered with joy, your call, " Come Home,' 

For our feet were tired and sore ; 
The road has been hard since last we left 

The path that leads to your door. 



There are joy gleams, bright, in every eye 

As we pledge, with solemn truth. 
The purest love, that our hearts can know. 

To the dear home of our youth ; 
No blush of shame need mantle the brow 

Of the man of high renown 
As he turns aside, from worldly strife. 

To his quiet, native town. 



I look abroad, o'er the green crowned hills 

And the valleys spreading wide. 
And the stern old woods, that many years 

Have the storm-king's power defied ; 
The fruitful orchards, clustering stand, 

And the cherry blossoms, white. 
Are sprinkling the earth with snowy leaves. 

As they fall so pure and light. 



And, scattered about, embowered with trees. 

All over the goodly land, 
Crowned with contentment's sweetest joys, 

The homes of the farmers stand. 
And my grateful heart responds with joy 

To the sentiment just read, 
We '11 wreathe, with laurels of well-earned fame. 

The names of the honored dead. 



We stand erect in our manhood's prime. 

And our hearts, with pleasure glow. 
As our thoughts turn back to days long past. 

When, " two hundred " years ago. 
Where our goodly town now prosperous stands 

Was a forest far and wide, 
And the Indian wamor roamed at will, 

And the white man's power defied. 



TOASTS. 69 



But there came from 'cross the foaming deep, 

A firm and stalwart band, 
Who sought a home 'mid the dreary wilds 

Of a distant, stranger hind ; 
They fled from tyranny's iron rule, 

To the drear New England's shore. 
Where the white waves dashed against the rocks 

With a constant, sullen roar. 



While the snow-king wove a mantle white, 

And covered the frozen ground. 
The bleak winds whistled through branches bare 

With a wailing mournful sound : 
And the hungry wolf roamed through the woods 

With a fierce and fearful cry. 
The war-whoop shrill of the Indian brave 

Rung through the winter sky. 



But their hearts changed not from their stern resolve. 

Though their cheeks turned white with fear. 
When the reaper Death, with cruel hand. 

Gathered their loved cues dear ; 
In the dim old woods and meadows sweet. 

Where our childish feet have trod, 
The pilgrims found what long they had sought. 

The freedom to worship God. 



While the changing years passed one by one. 

In their never-ceasing flight. 
They brought success to the pilgrim band. 

For God was with the right ; 
The sunlight ripened their corn and grain ; 

In the golden Autumn time, 
They gathered, from off their wide-spread fields 

A beautiful harvest fine. 



The people learned, on the Sabbath day. 

The golden rule of love, 
At the little church with the spire upraised 

Towards the arching blue above : 
They built the school-house down by the hill. 

Though the winds blew colil and drear, 
The children came, with willing feet. 

From the homesteads far and near. 



70 TOASTS. 

And the village grew and prospered too, 

"Was a place of great renown, 
And they sought a name worthy the fame 

Of their busy thriving town ; 
When the fathers gazed, with conscious pride, 

On each brave and stalwart son, 
They gave it a name which suited well. 

The one it still bears — Men-don(e). 



With pleasue to-day we've turned aside 

From the vexing cares and strife, 
From the troubles which shadow every path 

'Long the weary march of life ; 
Our youth days come back with magic power. 

As we see each well-known face. 
And hearts grow light as we gaze upon 

Each well remembered place. 



There are the woods, which in summer time. 

Bent low o'er the rippling pond, 
Where we sailed at eve for the lilies sweet, 

To the further side beyond ; 
There is the hill where we coasted oft, 

When tlie snow, so pure and white. 
Covered the top and sloping sides 

With a fleecy mantle light. 
In those good old days, strong common sense 

Was taught in the country schools. 
And the young folks then knew not the power 

Of dame fashion's iron rule. 
The boys rose up with the morning sun, 

And whistled a merry lay. 
They ate their breakfast with right good will. 

And off to the fields away. 



They plowed and sowed, reaped and mowed. 

Though rough and rocky the soil. 
But the hai-vest fine in Autumn time 

Well paid for their hardy toil. 
When Winter came with chilling blast. 

And the farm work all was done, 
With a willing lieart and busy brain 

They studied till set of sun. 
Then, DaboU's arithmetic they conned. 

Learned Murray's grammar too, 



TOASTS. 

The American preceptor read, 
And Morse's geography through. 



But young America rules to-day ; 

'Tis sad indeed but true, 
Theii- wisdom exceeds, when ten years old, 

Whatever their fathers knew. 
They roam all night and sleep all day, 

And labor, to them, is disgrace; 
Their hair is curled by barber's hand 

And powdered their simple face ; 
With dainty gloves and their feet well pinched 

To a small and high heeled boot, 
Their little forms are padded and stuffed. 

To fill out a fashionable suit ; 
They carry a cane with graceful air. 

Or handle a lady's fan. 
No wonder people ask as they pass 

If that thing is called a man. 



The girls were taught, in their youthful days. 

To make the butter and cheese ; 
To spin the yarn and to knit and sew 

And cook a dinner with ease. 
They spun and wove the flannels so soft. 

And the linen pure and white. 
The bedquilts warm, all quilted so firm. 

Indeed were a goodly sight. 



But noil! a little Latin and French 
Goes into each feeble brain, 

With all tiic "isms" and "ologies," 
And they soon flv out airain. 



But the ladies fair can promenade. 
Or join in the mazy dance. 

They can gossiji and simper and smile 
With the ease and jrracc of France. 



Like lilies, they neither toil nor spin. 
Their hands are folded in ease, 

While Solomon in his glory bright 
Was never arrayed like these. 



71 



72 TOASTS. 

They have many a dress and robe so gay, 

But weep in bitter despair, 
Like " Flora McFlimsey," renowned in song. 

Because they have nothing to wear. 



O ! sad are the changes time has made. 

For everything now is fast. 
And we pray, with anxious, waiting hearts, 

For the good old time that 's past. 



I wandered along the well-known road 

With an aching heart this morn. 
And passed, all shaded with ancient trees, 

The homestead* where I was born. 
The robin sang clear its notes of joy 

As it sang in bygone Mays, 
But I gazed in vain for the loved ones dear 

Who gladdened my boyhood's days. 



The voice is hushed that tenderly soothed 

Each childish trouble and pain, 
And the cradle song with its magic power 

Will never be heard again. 
In sorrow's hour I have sadly felt 

The loss of that mother love. 
But I know the spirit, robed in white, 

Roams the better land above. 



I sought for the landmarks known in youth. 

For each old familiar spot, 
Where I often strayed in childish hours. 

But alas ! I found them not. 
The blacksmith shop of old "Uncle Sim," 

Where I often stopped to play, 
And watch the sparks from the heated iron. 

Has long since passed away. 
How well I remember the patient John, 

His good-natured face aglow, 
As he stood with strong and steady arm, 

Ready to strike or blow. 

'The Jonathan Kussell place. 



TOASTS. 

A little farther, just around the corner, 

Nestled a cosy hatter's sliop, 
Where Mr. Stone, with a skillful craft. 

Made coverings for the head. 
I 've watched him bowing the rabbit fur, 

And making the lofty crown ; 
With a generous brim he formed each hat 

For the staid men of the town. 
Genuine hats — not shoddy or sham — 

Were made in the days of yore. 
For best they were worn full fifteen years, 

For common some ten years more. 



Up under the elms was the bake-house old. 
Where Mr. Brackett baked our bread, 

And the crackers light, and buns so sweet. 
With which the hungry were fed. 

! what a feast we might have enjoyed 
If he had been here to-day. 



We ai'e proud to-day of our noble sires, 

And high on the roll of fame 
Is writ, in letters of blazing light. 

Many an honored name. 
That of " Aldrich " stands first on the list ; 

George and Nathan, soldiers bold, 
At Crown Point and old Ticonderoga 

Fought in the days of old. 
Peleg the surveyor, and Jabez tlie postmaster, 

Anson, Scammcl, and Quissett Luke, 
And that other Luke at the turnpike gate. 

Who is here to-day with a smiling face. 
All free from the world's contending strife. 

To welcome the children Iiome. 
Methinks the angel of health came down 

And granted a new lease of life. 



There was Eben, ami William, and Major Rufus 

Who anxiously watched the fray 
At the bloody battle of Bunker IJill 

Where the sons of fioedom lost tlie day, 
Tho' Putnam, Prescott, Warren, Stark and Reed 

" 'Mid death shots, falling thick and fast," 
With Spartan valor, thrice beat back the foe 

Covering the ground with British dead. 

10 



73 



74 TOASTS. 

He saw the flames of the city rage, 
And heard the peaUng bell 

Toll, e'er it fell, with a crashing sound. 
The oppressor's funeral knell. 



Of Tafts there were at least a score or more. 

Intelligent and good-looking of course ; 
Zacheus, Enos, 'Villa, Elijah and George, 

Jotham, Alvin, and Amariah, 
Thomas, Nathaniel, Eben and Japheth, 

Good citizens, farmers all ; 
And if I 'ra not mistaken this gathering shows 

The race is yet not quite extinct. 



A famous tribe were the well known Thayers, — 

Allen the merchant, Alexander the doctor. 
Over the river were Moses, Aaron, Nahum and Ben, 

And Aleck and Captain Amos ; 
And down by the tavern, near the Five Corners, 

Were many more of the name, 
Henry, Artemas, Ichahod, Joseph and Nicholas ; 

At " Waterbug Hill " lived Uncle Robert, 
At " Chestnut," Captain Caleb and Esquire Elijah, 

All eminently useful men. 



The Kelleys who owned the factories and mills 

At the "Uitper" and "Lower Canadas," 
Asa, Seth, Willis, Daniel, Jolin and David — 

Good Quakers of tlie Hieksite sect ; 
They sawed our logs and ground our grain, 

Dyed our wool and carded our rolls, 
And dressed the cloth wliich busy hands at home 

Had spun and wove. 
The limpid stream, which turned their wheels, 

Still runs its meandering course 
Towards the great ocean, hut the miller 

And his vocation are ffone. 



There was the old forge, down by the spring, 
Which made iron for the farmers' use. 

Whose ponderous hammer could be heard 
To ring, oft in the stilly night ; 

But the forge, and its owner, Mr. Paine, 
Have gone the way of all the earth. 



TOASTS. "75 



While the spring, whose cooling waters quenched 

The thirst of the heated forgeman, 
Surrounded by mossy stones and grassy banks, 

Fresh and green as the memories 
Which cluster around it, only remains 

To mark the spot and tell the story. 



There was Doctor T., a kind and genial man, 

With the mark of wisdom in each eye, 
A word of cheer for the children dear, 

And a smile for each passer-by. 
One pleasant morning, to a neighboring mill, 

The Doctor carried a grist to grind, 
And gaily chatted with the miller hale, 

While rumbled the noisy stone. 
The miller said with a laughing air, 

" What good are your drugs and pills ? 
You kill the people and still pretend 

To cure all earthly ills." 
Then spake the Doctor, with solemn air ; 

" Just read the papers, please, 
And you '11 see, we 've found a wondrous cure 

For consumption's dire disease ; 
The medicine, it is sad to say. 

Though we 've sought the earth around, 
Is the meal-dust on an honest miller's hat, 

But has never yet been found. 



In the green and shady Quissett vale 

Lived the blacksmith, Mr. P., 
Who toiled from morn till the set of sun 

For his little family. 
In those old days each man was taxed, 

The minister to pay ; 
Whether he heard the preaching fine, 

Or whether he staid away ; — 



The blacksmith refused to pay the tax. 

And they started him for jail ; 
He turned away with an anxious heart. 

From his peaceful quiet vale. 
Before he reached his journey's end. 

He met good Parson D., 
The blacksmith said, in sorrowing voicc- 

" 'Tis very hard for me, 



76 TOASTS. 

To be sent to jail because I have 
No money the tax to pay, 

When I never came inside your church, 
And never heard you pray." 



" But Ah !" the parson blandly said, 

" My doors were open wide, 
'Tis your own fault, nobody's to blame 

That you never came inside ; 
But for fear your family might want, 

This time the tax I'll pay." 
The blacksmith thanked the generous man. 

And homeward took his way. 



While musing, he roamed along the road, 

In the weary march he paused ; 
He had found a way the parson to pay, 

For the trouble he had caused. 
So the blacksmith made and sent a bill 

Right up to Parson D., 
For shoeing his horse at sundry times. 

And a good round sum charged he. 



In indignation the parson came 

A galloping down the hill. 
And asked the blacksmith what right had he 

To send him such a bill ; 
" For I have not been inside your door, 

In your shop I never trod, 
1 don't understand the meaning of this. 

For my horse you never shod." 



" My tools were ready," the blacksmith said, 

" And my doors were open wide, 
'Tis no one's fault but your own, dear sir. 

That you never came inside." 
The parson left with a knowing air. 

Nor went that way for days. 
But the blacksmith sung, " 'Tis a very poor rule 

That does not work both ways." 



Our hearts are grieved as we close our lay, 
And the sad tears dim our sight. 



TOASTS. 77 



As we sing the changes time has wrought 

In his onward rapid flight ; 
And our lives are drawing to a close, 

And soon we shall bid farewell 
To the homes made dear l)y memories sweet, 

Where the loved and loving dwell. 
Let us strive with earnest, faithful hearts. 

Stern duty's call to obey. 
And walk with a firm and steady tread 

In the straight and narrow way. 
Let us imitate with purpose firm 

Our fathers' virtues of old, 
And defy oppression's cruel power 

With a courage firm and bold. 
Let us nobly stand for freedom and right 

Till the setting of life's sun. 
Till our ears shall hear the Master's voice : 

" Servants of God, well done." 



My muse is sad as I gently breathe 

That sweet old word good-bye, 
But we hope to meet in union sweet 

In the better world on high. 
At the river side, for the boatman pale, 

We stand and tremblingly wail. 
Loved ones will welcome who've gone before. 

When we reach the pearly gate. 
No sorrow or parting can sadden. 

In those mansions of the blest. 
Where the wicked cease from troubling 

And the weary are at rest. 



14. The Commonwealth of Massachusetts : she furnished the first martyrs for 
the establishment of American Independence, in the streets of Boston, and the first 
martyrs for its preservation in the streets of Baltimore. 

15. The memory of Abraham Lincoln. 

16. The Ladies : with Clara Barton and Florence Nightingale as representa- 
tives, they need stand in no fear of being overlooked or counted out, in the great 
trial-balance of humanity. 






\: T T K n s . 



LETTERS FEOM INVITED GUESTS. 



Commonwealth of Massachusetts. ^ 
Executive Department. ) 

Boston, May 14th, 1867. 
Hon. John G. Metcalf, 
Mendon, 

My Dear Sir : 

I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your kind invitation to partici- 
pate in the ceremonies commemorative of the incorporation of your ancient town. 
Regretting that the urgency of puijlic duty will deprive me of this privilege, I 
cannot conceal from you my deep interest in all that concerns my native county. 
I view with pride her material prosperity, and intelligence, and recognize in the 
industry, virtue and patriotic devotion of her people, those elements which con- 
stitute the true greatness of a State. The lessons of the fathers have not heen 
lost upon their sons, and six generations of men have preserved the enterprise 
and manly fortitude of the early settlers of her towns, only to exemplify them 
in the pursuits of peace, and illustrate them yet more conspicuously in the con- 
flict of arms. 

Of this stronghold of free principles and free men, so early established in the 
heart of Massachusetts, and maintained with such persistent courage, Mendon 
was a most important buttress ; and though desolated by savage warfare, and 
long enduring the trials and perils of a frontier settlement, the perseverance of 
her substantial ynemanry has reaped, as it merited, a most bountiful reward. 
Thriving towns have sprung up on her ancient domain, and from all, the close of 
two centuries will summon the lineal descendants of the old pioneers, to celebrate 
the birthday of their common parent. And from other counties, and other States, 
and it may be from distant lands, the children will return to the old homestead 
and hearthstone, to revive the associations of youth, to strengthen the bonds of 
friendship, and perhaps to drop a tear over the ashes of their kindred. 

In this commingling of congratulations my warmest sympathies will be with 



80 LETTERS. 



you ; and I shall abide in the earnest hope, and fullest confidence that when the 
hour of parting shall come, each son and daughter of the ancient town will carry 
to a near or distant home, the purpose and the will to cherish and practice, and 
teach even unto children's children, the lessons of frugality and piety transmitted 
through two hundred years, from an honorable and God-fearing ancestry. 
I remain, my dear Sir, with sentiments of the highest respect and esteem, 



Your friend and servant, 

Alexander H. Bullock. 



Worcester, May 13, 1867. 
John G. Metcalf ; 

My Dear Sir : 

Your most kind note of the twenty-ninth of April reached me when confined to 
my chamber by sickness, and even now I have little strength beyond what may be 
required to its brief acknowledgement. I thank the committee which you repre- 
sent most cordially, for the great honoi* of the invitation to attend the public com- 
memoration of the two hundredth anniversary of the incorporation of Mendon, 
and to respond to a sentiment which may be offered at the festival. It would, 
indeed, be a high gratification to me to be present on so rare and interesting an 
occasion, and to speak, as I might do, of the things which pertain to the past. 
My own long life is to the full measure, within sixteen years of the one-half of 
the entire existence of your "ancient town," and memory, true to its office, bears 
with it vivid recollections of the times and the men of a generation which has 
gone, — of pleasant acquaintances and precious friendships, never to be forgotten. 

The Mendon of the present is not, indeed, the Mendon of a half-century since. 
Time, in a country of ever vigorous enterprise and progress, like our own, soon 
changes the relation of places to each other, and your town, once scarcely second 
in territory, and population, and business, to the shire itself, again and again 
shorn of its original fair proportions, is now most to be honored in the grateful 
remembrance of those representative men, who, as citizens of the counit/, in their 
day, were prominent in the public service, and contributed greatly to the integ- 
rity, prosperity, and glory of the larger community, of which they were members. 
Penniman, Davenport, Thurber, Hastings, the elder and the younger, Rawson, 
George, — names still flimiliar and cherished, as I doubt not, in the hearts and 
households of your people. 

I am not of the number of those who admit the wisdom of a division of great 
things for the only purpose of a multiplication of smaller things. Happily, in the 
tendency of the times to the creation of new municipalities, the uniti/ of our noble 
county remains substantially unimpaired, although somewhat disturbed, as I 
think, in the harmony of its proportions, by the poor expedient of a part shire on 



LETTERS. 81 



its northern border. If Fitcliburp; and the adjacent towns shall ever, in turn, be 
sent across the State for the administration of justice, as has been sometimes 
threatened, it may then come to be better understood, that the extrernities are 
farther distant from each other than from a common centre, and at hoiv great cost 
to the general welfare, relief may be sought from merely ]jartial, but necessarily 
incidental local inconveniences. 

"When it was fii-st proposed to divide the " old county of Hampshire," a county 
once like our own, magnifictent in its greatness, it was urged in objection, by one 
of its most emhient citizens, that the result of the process would inevitably be to 
belittle the men. Through the jjcrsistence of sectional interests, and personal petty 
ambitions and jealousies, the measure was at last accomplished. And where now 
are to be found there such men as were tlie Strongs, Starkweather, Ashmun, 
Mills, the Dwights, Bliss, Hooker, and otliers, — " River Gods," as they were 
called, — awaiting whose presence in the General Court, it was said, the purpose 
and action of legislation would be suspended. 

For myself, I cling witli inextinguishable love and pride to the integrity of this 
grand old County of Worcester, in all its length and breadth of territory, stretch- 
ing from State to State, in itself ample enough for a Commonwealth ; with its 
one hundred and eighty thousand population, larger even than that of some of the 
States of the Union, its still rapid growth, its diversified interests, its material 
wealth, its educated intellect, its moral power, its political weight and influence as 
a great community, in the concerns of State and Nation. I glory in it that all 
these are its distinguishing characteristics. I pray they may never be fewer nor 
less. They have been our enjoyment, and belong, as a rightful inheritance, to 
the generations which shall come after us. 

If it were the fashion of the times to "drink toasts," I would offer as a sen- 
timent. 

The County of Worcester: witli thewilling co-operation of every part to 
its perpetual integrity, prosperity and greatness. 

I have the honor to be, dear Sir, with sentiments of the highest respect for 
yourself, and your associates on the committee, very truly their and your grate- 
fully obliged friend and servant, 

Levi Lincoln. 



New Bedford, May 7, 1867. 

Hon. John G. Metcalf, 

Chairman Committee, &c. &c. 

My Dear Sir: 

On my return home from a recent absence, I found your very kind note, invit- 
ing me to be present and participate in the celebration of the two hundredth an- 

11 



82 



LETTERS. 



niversary of the incorporation of the ancient town of Merdon. Slight as my 
chiims are to be thus recognized and remembered, I esteem it a high honor to 
be permitted to unite with your citizens in tiiis grateful commemoration of the 
founding of their municipal home, with which I have so many agreeable associa- 
tions. Some of the pleasantest and most profitable days of my youth were spent 
within its borders, and I should rejoice to be able to renew, under the inspiration 
of such an occasion, my recollections of those, now passed away, whose hospi- 
tality and kindness made my residence there the subjact of such grateful memo- 
ries. 

My venerable and faithful old tutor, Ilev. Simeon Doggett, the Russells and the 
Hastings — father and sons, the Haywards and the Holbrooks, the Davenports an 
Torreys, and many more who come thronging before me only at the prompting 
of your word of invitation, and whose familiar faces would, I am sure, be vividly 
re-produced in the family circle which you will gather and re-unite on the day of 
your commemoration, are all freshly remembered. But it grieves me, my dear 
Sir, to be obliged to say that I must forego this great pleasure. My engagements, 
already fixed, and which cannot be postponed, inexorably exclude me from your 
festival. With my best wishes, that all good influences may combine to render 
it a propitious and successful one, and with my sincere thanks to the Committee, 



I am, verv truly. 

Your obliged and obedient servant, 

John H. Clifford. 



New York, May 6th, 1867. 
Mt Dear Brother : 

Tiie celebration to which you invite me, and to which our towns-people are 
looking forward with so great anticipation of pleasure, is one of a most interest- 
ing character, and calculated to do great good. . 

The influence of the town in moulding the character of the people of our 
country, and in contributing to the support and excellence of ouf free govern- 
ment and institutions, is an element not to be overlooked nor forgotten. 

It is well that the citizens of our town now, at the close of a history of two 
hundred years, have seen fit to call upon her children to meet and celebrate the 
blessings which she has bestowed — to take note of the past and its significance, 
and to gather new inspiration for excellence and usefulnesss in the present and 
the future. 

Two hundred years have sped away ! Many generations of townsmen and 
townswomen have passed away with them ! But the town still remains. 

So the waters of the flowing stream go ever hastening onward to the depths 



LETTERS. bo 

and darkness of the sea, bat the rivei- still runtinues to give gladness to the eye 
and beauty to the earth. 

Feeling, then, the certainty and swiftness of our mortality, may it be our wis- 
dom and our joy to give honor and support to the institutions which arc to sur- 
vive us, and to bless those who are to come after us. 

I am not certain whether I can meet with you on this interesting occasion. I 
sliall come if I can without doing injustice to my engagements and duties here. 

In any event, I send you the sentiment of my heart : Our Native Town, — 
she merits the gratitude and love of all her children. 

Your affectionate Brother, 

E. N. Taft. 
F. W. Taft, Mendon. 



Groton, May 1, 1867. 

Sir: 

Your letter of the 29th ult. places me under obligations to you and to the com- 
mittee of the citizens of the town of Mendon. I take an interest in all that 
relates to our towns, and their early history and records are full of instruction 
and encouragement. The little municipalities of New England have ever been 
schools of self-government, and nurseries of true political principles. Let them 
be cherished and strengthened. Let their histories be rehearsed, their policy and 
power explained, that their influence and authority in the government of the state 
may continue. As I am to leave Massachusetts for Washington in a few days, 
I am compelled to decline your invitation. 



Very respectfully, 
John G. Metcalf, Esq., Mendon, Mass. 



Geo. S. Boutwell. 



City of Worcester, May 4, 18G7. 

Hon. John G. Metcalf. 

My Dear Sir : 

Your letter of the twenty-ninth ultimo is before me. I thank you personally, 
and tlirough you the committee who kindly invited me to be present at the cele- 



84 LETTERS. 



bration of the of the two hundredth anniversary of the incorporation, of the town 
of Mendon. Commemorations of such epochs in local history, are of the highest 
importance to the general historian, and shed much light on the origin, formation, 
and growth of our social, civil and religions institutions. Most deeply do I 
■regret my inability to be present and participate in an event so interesting and 
instructive. Allow me to express my best wishes for the truest and highest 
enjoyment of the sons and daughters of Mendon, who may have the happiness to 
engage in this bi-centennial celebration. 

With respectful consideration, I am, Sir, 

Your friend and obedient servant, 

Isaac Davis. 



Lowell, Mass., May 2, 1867. 
Deak Sir: 

I am much obliged to the Committee of Arrangements of the good old town 
of Mendon, for their invitation to participate with my fellow-citizens upon the oc- 
casion of the celebration of the 200th anniversary of the incorporation. 

I am grieved that pressing private engagements will keep me away. 

The Town organization took our fathers safely through the Revolution. Our 
towns were the mainstay of the Commonwealth in the War of the Rebellion. It 
was a mistake when we changed from Town to District representation. 

Let the rights and privileges of the towns be carefully cherished and guarded 
from infringement. 

Yours Truly, 

Benj. F. Butler. 

John G. Metcalf, Esq., Chairman 

Committee of Arrangements, Mendon, Mass. 



Dedham, May 4, 1867. 
Sir: 
I feel very deeply obliged for the invitation extended to me by the Committee 



LETTERS. 85 



of Arrangements to be present at the 200th anniversary of the incorporation of 
Mention, and would gladly accept the same if ray imperative duty did not require 
me to be at this phice at the time referred to. 

The occasion whicli gathers together the citizens and towns whidi have sprung 
from your ancient corporation will be a most interesting one, and I can offer her 
no better wish than that the century to come may write for her as fair a recoi'd as 
that which the centuries past have inscribed on the pages of History. 

Had I been fortunate enough to be witli you, I should liave endeavored to ren- 
der some tribute, however inadequate, to the exertions of your citizens at home, 
and your sons in the fiekl, during tlie late terrible struggle with rebellion and 
treason, and should have ventured to offer the following sentiment : 

" The Town of Mendon — The changes of time may have diminished its terri- 
tory, but the valor of its sons has shown that the noble spirit of self-devotion and 
patriotism has not diminished from that which two centuries ago animated their 
great forefathers." 

Believe me. Sir, 

Yours very truly and respectfully, 

Chas. Devens, Jr. 

Hon. J. G. Metcalf 

and Gentlemen of Committee. 



Cambridge, May 4. 
Dear Doctor : 

Your kind invitation to be present at the bi-centennial celebration of the incor- 
poration of the good town of Mendou has been received, and has quite disturbed 
my equanimity in the struggle between my sense of duty here and my desire to be 
there at one and the same time. From my cliildhood, when I began to read 
Whitney's History of Worcester County, I have been interested in studying the 
jirogress and improvement of the towns of which it is composed. This, together 
with my long familiarity with more or less of the leading men in the various 
towns, in ])ublic and private life, has extended something like a home feeling all 
over the County, and brought me into the relation of neighborliood kindness .and 
regard with its ])eople wherever I have found them. Nor has this feeling been 
diminished by my removal from my former associations with the County. The 
habits of youth and middle life have clung to me, though so many of the genera- 
tions I then knew have passed into history. 

All that I have said is specially true of the ancient town of Mendon. A crowd 
of associations are awakenened as I recall its natural beauties ; its cultivated farms, 
and the names and homes of the men of influence whom I have known there. 



86 LETTERS. 



It would have given me great pleasure to come and be permitted to speak of 
these, and recall the moral and social influences which that town and its institu- 
tions have exerted in the County. But that pleasure is denied me hy my duty 
here. I do not see how I can be absent without sacrificing what I owe to others 
to the gratification of my own wishes and desires. 

I have no doubt you will have an excellent time. Sucli occasions are the 
means of much good to the passing generations, by reminding them of the char- 
acter of those wlio laid the foundations of society in these little Democracies 
which are the life and soul of our free institutions, and teaching them, by the les- 
sons of the past, the work they have to do, if they would carry forward the pro- 
gress which another generation had begun. 

Pardon this long note, — I would not decline your invitation without saying 
how much I regretted in doing so, and I was, before I was aware of it, involved 
in a train of thought which the history of Mendon, as I recalled it, awakened. 

Very respectfully, 

Your obedient servant, 

Emoky Washburn. 

Hon. J. G. Metcalf, M. D. 



Worcester, May 14, 1867, ^ 

Tuesday, 8 P. M. ) 

Dr. John G. Metcalp, 

Of the Committee of Mendon. 

Dear Sir ; — I regret that I have just now received a summons to attend pub- 
lic business at Boston, at noon to-morrow, which will deprive me of the great 
pleasure, which I anticipated, in attending the commemoration of the 200th 
anniversary of your town. If I could have been present I should not have at- 
tempted to make any important addition to the historical discoveries brought out 
by the orator and by yourself, but I should have taken the liberty of speaking of 
some familiar facts as they strike a stranger. There is often some influence and 
a good deal of history in a name, and the name of your town, written in suc- 
cessive early colonial records as Mendham, plainly signifies improved or improv- 
ing hamlet or town. Among many efforts for improvement indicated in your 
history, I will mention the free use of the process of amputation : First, Belling- 
ham was cut off^ on the east, then the large slice of Uxbridge and Northbridge 
was taken from the west side, then Upton was struck oft' from the north, and 



LETTERS. 87 

nothing prevented your poet, for this occasion, wiio -wks Loin on the spot, from 
crying to George II. : 

" Ellin seize tliee, worthless king — 
Confusion on thy banners wait," 

but the fact that the hard was horn one luindred years too late. Then, success- 
ively, Milford and Blackstone were cut off; and after all this, the old corporation 
was so vigorous and bore the knife so well without the aid of of chloroform, that 
our neighbors of Rhode Island have attempted to repeat the operation. But the 
good old town is here, to-day, inviting us to cut and come again, and I am much 
disapj'ointod that I cannot enjoy your hos])itality. 

Will you offer, in my bclialf, the subjoined sentiment, and believe me, 

Very respectfully yours, 

Stephen Salisbury. 

The Town of Mendon: — " \w the same more or less," — in all its losses of 
territory, may it never lose the power to furnish happy homes within its borders, 
andhonored and useful men for the service of the state. 



HAEniSBUKG, Pa., May 8th, 1867. 
PuTMAN \V. Taft, Esq., Mendon, Mass. 
My Dear Sir: 

I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your kind letter of the 1st inst., 
advising me of the proposed celebration of tlic Two Hundredth Anniversaiij of 
the Settlement of Mendon, and inviting me to be present to participate in the pleas- 
ures of that occasion. 

It would afford me much gratification to comply with your very polite invita- 
tion, (did not a pressure of business at this time forbid,) and to make a pilgrim- 
age to the good old town of my nativity, and unite with my poor voice in doing 
honor to the occasion, — to repeat a hail and a farewell among my old friends — 
children of the same household, and kindred of those, fondly remembered, who 
have gone to their long home. 

I rejoice that the occasion is to be commemorated. It is right that tlie birth- 
day of this good old mother of towns, and a nijmerous family of children spread 
abroad through all the land, should be remembered, and her praise sounded in 
speech and verse and joyous song. 

She has been a kind mother, and I remember with gratitude the tender care 
which she has ever manifested in the education of her children. It was while sit- 
ting upon the lowest bench, in an humble room, which bad formerly been used as 
a shoe-maker's shop, but now high and holy in its associations, that I received my 
first impulses towards learning and an earnest life, by listening to words of coun- 



88 LETTERS. 



sel from the Ups of that broad-minded man, and most excellent citizen, David 
Davenport, in the discharge of his duty as a school committee man. So long as 
the best and most honored of the town, like him, give their time and their atten- 
tion to common school education, happy and fortunate will be our fond mother's 
days, and she can point to such, and say, with the matron of old, " These are my 
jewels." 

It is the virtuous, well-educated children of the rural population that give 
power and stability to the nation. It was not the needle guns that made empire 
for Prussia on the now historic field of Sadowa, but the well-schooled, intelligent 
young men that stood behind them ; and the realization of that long-cherished 
hope of a united Germany, under Prussian rule, is due, not so much to the con- 
summate generalship of the Princes, or to her improved weapons of warfare, as to 
her liberal and wise system of popular education. 

Be pleased to make my acknowledgments to gentlemen, members of the com- 
mittee, and my regrets at not being able to be present, and say to them, that I 
join in wishing the prosperity and happiness of the people, throughout the goodly 
borders of the town , and offer this sentiment : 

A wise and liberal education of youth, the pride and the glory of Mendon. 

With sentiments of respect and esteem, I remain, 

Very truly yours, 

Samuel P. Bates. 



Worcester, May 4, 1867. 
Hon. John G. Metcalf, 
Dear Sir: 

An official engagement at Webster, on the 1.5th inst., will deprive me of the 
satisfaction I should find in being present at the celebration of the 200th birth-day 
of your town. 

What would the inhabitants of ancient Mendon have said, on the day the 
GenerarCourt gave them a town charter, if they had been told that at the close of 
the second century of their municipal existence, a sheriff's jury would be engaged 
in assessing damages for land, away beyond Douglas woods, taken to make an 
iron road, upon which iron horses would run, drawing long trains of passengers 
and merchandise, and living upon nothing but wood and water ^ And how great 
would have been their astonishment if they could have seen the strange horses, 
with tlieir marvelous carriages, running into East Mendon, and over iSouth Men- 
don, and up the valleys of the Blackstone and the Mumford in West Mendon ? 
They could have been forgiven, even in those puritanic times, if they had ex- 
claimed as did the lunatic, looking out of the galleries of the Insane Hospital up- 



LETTERS. 89 

on the first train of cars that run into Worcester: — "It must he the Devil upon 
earth; for no other creature could run so fast loith such short legs!" 

Nothing shows the immense change which two centuries of progress have made, 
in a manner so forcible as the tens of thousands of miles of railroads, that al- 
I'eady hold most of the states of the Union in their iron embrace ; and are daily 
reaching forth their forked fingers, like hooks of steel, to grasp the golden shores 
of California and Oregon, and the silver moonshine of our Russian purchase. 

When Uxbridge, and Milford, and Upton, and Northbridge, and Blackstone, 
gather around the old hearth-stone of Mendon, to celebrate the years of her ma- 
ternity, something of fiimily pride might be pardoned in her, if in the midst of 
her deprivations, she should be heard to lament that she had not still other chil- 
dren to give to the Commonwealth. 

Very respectfully yours, 

J. S. C. Knowlton. 



12 



MUNICIPAL OFFICERS FOR 16G7. 



Selectmen. 
Col. WILLIAM CROWNE, 
Goodman BENJAMIN ALBY, 

FARDINANDO THAYER, 
DANIEL LOVETT, 
JOHN THOMPSON, Senior. 

Register. 
Col. WILLIAM CROWNE. 

Fence Viewers. 
Goodman JOHN WOODLAND, 
JOHN ALDERIGE. 



MUNICIPAL OFFICERS FOR 1867. 



Selectmen. 

GUSTAVUS B. WILLIAMS, JOHN S. GASKILL, 

WILLIAM H. ALDRICH. 

Town Clerk. 
DAVID ADAMS. 

Town Treasurer. 
JOHN G. METCALF. 

Assessors. 

FRANCIS E. WHEELOCK, JOHN S. GASKILL, 

AUSTIN D. DAVENPORT. 

Overseers of the Poor. 
CHRISTOPHER DANIELS, ANDRE SOUTHWICK, 

ALBERT W. GASKILL. 

Collector of Taxes. 
CHARLES C. P. HASTINGS. 

Constable. 
GEORGE W. THAYER. 

School Committee. 
GUSTAVUS B. WILLIAMS, DAVID ADAMS, 

MICAJAH C. GASKILL. 



.TF) \ 



y 



ISX^ The following toast and resjMiise, should have been insert 
immediately after resjjonse of Rev. 31r. Ballon. 

Milford, loiif? uttached to Mendon as a Precinct. The dissolution of the political 
has not diniinislied our interest in her growth and prosperity. 
Response, by II. B. Staples, Esq., of Milford. 

JVir.Prcw/enf.-— Milford is a branch of the old vine iilanted here two hundred ve: 
ago, and reverts with a deep interest to the cii-cunistances of her origin. The aVti 
settlement on the ea.sterly side of Mill Kiver conunenced near the year 1700, wli 
Abraham Jones, living in the village of Mendon, cleared up a piece" of land wlu 
iIo]iedale now is, and put up a shanty for his temporary accommodation. Here 
passed many solitary days and nights, surrounded by wilil lieastsand savage.'^, cari 
less for non-resistance than the present inhabitants." At length he built a house a 
moved his family there. This house, when his wealth had increased, gave place to t 
present old house, superior in its day, in style and costliness, to other houses in the 
cinity. 

Soon after the year 1700, Seth Chapin, son of Josiah Chapin, a noted name in Jlendc 
settled on the cross-road about forty rods southerly of thcHopedale corner. His s( 
Seth Chapin, Jr., lived there after him, and marrie'd Abigail Adams, aunt of the elc 
I'residcnt. Mr. Adams, paid his relative a visit in August, 17')5, giving her grand.s( 
Adams Chapin, a crown for liis name. 

Tlie territory thus grailually settled, was incorporated Oct. 2;j, 1741, by the Gene: 
Court, as '•the easterly precinct of M(>ndon."' The precinct comprised" the land 1 
tween the eight-rod road anil tlie ri\ er, with a "shifting use" to certiiin persons a 
estates. The oUl recortls show that an organization was efTccted 'January 18, 1741 1- 
as it is written. How the same day can belong to two different years, "is explain 
when we remember that in the old style the legal year began Ma"rch '2Gth, and Ja 
uarv ISth was tlierefore in the legal > ear 1741, and in the si<iereal year 174-2. 

The first minister called b\- tbe inceinct was Mr. John Bass, wlio declined the cii 
The Kev. Amariah Frost was then called and settled. Mr. Fi'ost afterwards asked » 
Bass why he did not ac-cept the call.— .Mr. Bass replied, that "Mill Kiver was not lar 
enough for Bass, but miglit do for Frost tish." 

It is a singular fact, that just one hundred years ago, this precinct took the first ste 
towards incorporation as a town, planted the seeds that ripened into fruit thirte 
years later. At a meeting March i), 1707, it was voted "to petition the Great and Ge 
oral Court to be set otf as a s(\parate town or Destrich," and June 9, 1707, it was vot 
"to choose a coramittee to send to the Great and General Court to be set of as a sej 
rate town or Destrich." Thus early was Milford a fast and ambitious town, anxio 
to escape from the best of mothers. There are four successive leaves in the old Pari 
Ifecords, to which I have alluded, marking four grand ))olitical eras by a very simi: 
index. On the first leaf is the wan-ant for calling a ])arish meeting, which bears teg 
the first day of Febnary, 177.5, and "in the fifteenth yejir of his majesties reign." Tt 
was just before the battle of Lexington, and is cxini'ssed in the us<ial style of loyalt 
The warrant issued the nextSpring a(k)pts the cautious st>ie — "the sixteenth year 
George the Third." That was rclx'llion under the mask of loyalty: the reti'ution 
th(> king's name with the omission of tlie regal title. The warrant of the followii 
August, tlic montli after tlie immortal Declaration, liears teste "in the flnstyear of t 
Indeiiendent States." Tlien the IN'volution was in full progress in the interest 
Strife Bights. One step furtlier l)riiigs us to a warrant, issued Feb. 17, 1777, bearii 
teste "in the second >ear of America Independaiiey." Thus wa,s the national id' 
reached at la.st, and the iirogress of oiiinion to that glorious result is shadow<I(>d for 
in this musty volume. 1 thank God tliai the tild precinct, the birth-jilace of (ieuer 
,\lexander Scaniinell, the friend of Washington, whose blood shed at Yorktown. w 
the last oblation on the altar of Amerii-an indcp(>ndence, set an example of patriot 
devotion, nolily sustained by Milford in the late war, by her sending to the lie 
twelve hundred men. 

The incorporation of Milford, took place April 11, 17S0, with the .same general limi 
as tlu> old precinct. At the time of its incor)K>ration, it numbered seven humlred i 
habit-ants; now it has ten thousand. Then Post Lane and tlie old Bo.ston road we 
its priiiciiial means of communication with th(^ world ; now it has one railroad co 
neeting with Boston, another in the process of construction to connect with Pnn 
deuce. New York, the coal fields and the great West, and a third chartereil to a sist 
town. Then, on account of its small manufacture of brooms, it was derisivt'ly calk 
" Broomshiri';" now its yearly manufacture exceeds five million dollars, and it 
(juite willing to accept the name of " shire" without the "Broom." 

] have alluded to the eight-rod road. It was laid out by the original settlers of jNfe 
don at that width, in anticipation of having thi' county seat there. Of course tin 
" died without tlie sight," lor comity seats are seldom loeateil where roads are coa 
iiigly laid out for tlieni, but rather wlnu'e the energy and iierseveranec of men comp 
theiii to be. After many years the road was narrowed by sellingotr fourrods in wirt 
on th(^ westerly side of it, south of the present road, and the same quantity on tl 
easterly side noi-th of it. The strange fracture thus jirodueed in the line of the o 
road, niarks the end of the county seat project. Strange if, after all, the dream of tlj 
settlers sl'ould ik'iiend on their Milford posterity for its realization, with but asligl 
change of location. [ 



Post Lane deserves a passing notice. It was tlie main road from ]Milford to Mondon, 
nntil 1S02. It ran iii tlic; rear of Mr. >Vallier's house and crossed the eight-rod road a 
fewrods iH)rth(M-h- of the present Mendon road. It was named after lliehard Tost, 
whose lioiisr stood hi Jlillord at the junction of the two roads. This road was lra\el- 
led by Washin.^'ton in his iournev through Xew England in Oct. 1789. He stopped for 
the night at JNlr. Taft's Tax-ern in Uxlnidge. 1 am happy in l)eing able to give Wash- 
ington's own accomit of lliis part of liis journey. It seems the Kcv. Mr. Frost paid a 
visit to Wasliington at Mount \ernon in the year i7!i7, and was invited to dinner. In 
aiHaryke])t bv him, a part of wliich I linld' in my liand, there is an account of tlie 
^ isit. 'I'lie con\ersation at tlic table took a wide range— a part of it is thus stated :— 

"He (meaning AVashington) eonverseil also resijccting his return by the way of Lex- 
ington across tiie country, nf the i)ilhcult\- tif the Koads in Mendon and lTxbri<lge, en- 
<|uired if I knew Mr. Tait's family where he jiul uj) that night, wliether the old gentle- 
man was alive, and a<ldeil that he was nuich ])leased wltli the conduct of liis Daugli- 
ters, ])artieularl>- the eldest \vl\ich lie said appeared to lia\-e superior sense and know- 
ledge for one ed"ucatc(l in such a country \ illage at a Tavern. She appeared to imder- 
staud considerable of Geography, &c., that she was a very sensible and modest I'ca'- 
son, eiuiuircd if she was marrie(l. I informed him slie was, lie hoped, she was well 
married. 1 answered thai 1 believed she was well married and that it was to a rcrson 
of Education wlio \\as a Clergyman." 

It is too much to suppose that the fair object of these compliments can still be moved 
by human praise. 

My frientls, I caimf>t longer in justice to f)thers, occupy yoitr time with these retro- 
s]iections. To ilay we bind up two hundred years into an epoch, and consign it ten- 
derly to the conip'an>- of " the > ears Ix-fore the ikiod." We leave the deatl to slecji on 
till the morning of the resurrc'ctiini, some beneath tombstones sadly needing Old M<u'- 
tality's chisel, some in gra\('s still watered by human tc-ars. We leave the living to 
jneserve the old lan<hnarks, to keep bright the chain of this lengthening history, to 
make the Future of MeiKlon worthy of her I'ast. \\e feel the spell of anti(|uit.\- upon 
liill and vallej^ and ))lain, which arrests our deiiarture. The sunken roads obstructed 
by rocks and" fringetl with willow, the paths of busy life to by-gone generations; the 
brooks and water courses, the lines of ancient jiossession, where in boyhood we sailed 
our little boats; the tret's oldin- tlian the town, the shade and shelter of youth and age; 
the drowsy llelds and pastuies here and tliere doited over with cellar jilaces, to mark 
wliere once centered the varied experience of human homes ; the grassy lanes were 
we roamed under the witching spell of " love's j'oung dream; the old church, where 
we walked in goodly fellowship, 

" Old men and babes and loving friends. 
And youths and maidens gay ;"' 

the schoolroom, where we first caught a glimjise of the ideal, and life was set to music ; 
the family seats, once the abodes of worth, intellect and the social graces, on which 
has fallen a desolation never to be disturbed again; the homes of our childhood, 
where the courses of husbandry kept pace with the seasons, where the sweet summer 
rain fell pattering on the roof above our heads, and where at length the Black Horses 
came to bear away a father, or as in my case a sainted mother, to the realms of silen< -c ; 
all these dear fan'iiliar objects we greet and bless as we number the passing hours. 
Time is bearing us along "as a Hood." The present will soon drift two hunilred 
years into the ixist and be a theme of curiosity or commemoration to the generation 
then on the stage. 

Amid the changes of time and the brevity of human lives, there is no consolation 
save in the thought of God's unchangeable existence. In the quaint words of the 
"One Hundreth I'salm, " sung by our pious ancestors in the depths of the forest 
gloom — 

" For why ? the Lord our God is good, 
His mercy is forever sure. 
His truth'at all times firmly stood 
And shall from age to age endure." 



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